Hawtrey strode on down a short corridor towards the second room, but Sally stopped behind him a moment.
“Is Hastings in town?” she asked. “I thought I saw his new wagon outside.”
“His wife is,” said the other woman. “She and Miss Ismay drove in to buy some things.”
Sally asked no further questions. It was evident that Mrs. Hastings would not start home until after supper, and as the regular hour meal would be ready in about half an hour it seemed certain that she would come back to the hotel very shortly. That left Sally very little time, for she had no desire that Hawtrey should meet either Mrs. Hastings or Agatha until she had carried out the purpose she had in hand. It was at Gregory’s special request that she had permitted him to drive in to see her off, and she meant to make the most of the opportunity. She had long ago regretted her folly in running away from his homestead when he lay helpless, but things had changed considerably since then.
When she entered the second room, she said nothing to Hawtrey about what she had heard. The room was cozily warm and brightly lighted, and the little table was laid for two with a daintiness very uncommon on the prairie. It was a change for Sally to be waited on and to have a meal set before her which she had not prepared with her own fingers, and she sank into a chair with a smile of appreciation.
“It’s real nice, Gregory,” she remarked. “Supper’s never quite the same when you’ve had to stand over the stove ever so long getting it ready.” She sighed. “When I have to do that after working hard all day I don’t want to eat.”
The man felt compassionate. Sally, as he was aware, had to work unusually hard at the desolate homestead where she and her mother perforce undertook a great many duties that do not generally fall to a woman. Creighton, who was getting to be an old man, was of a grasping nature, and hired assistance only when it was indispensable.
“Well,” Hawtrey responded, “I’m not particularly fond of cooking either.”
Sally glanced at him with a provoking smile, for he had given her a lead. “Then,” she asked with a coquettish raising of the eyebrows, “why don’t you get somebody else to do it for you?”
This was, as Gregory recognized, almost painfully direct, but there was no doubt that Sally looked very pretty with the faint flush of color in her cheeks and the tantalizing light in her eyes.