Nasmyth smiled. He was too well acquainted with his comrade’s manner to take offence at this remark, and the man’s devotion to the girl who, he knew, would never regard him as more than a friend also had its effect.
“Well,” he said, “since plain speaking seems admissible, you are probably aware that Laura Waynefleet has nothing beyond a kindly interest in me. She is, I needn’t point out, a remarkably sensible young lady.”
He stopped somewhat abruptly, for Wisbech emerged from the shadows beneath the pillars, and sat down in a chair close by.
“Yes,” said Wisbech, “I heard, and it seems to me Derrick’s right in one respect. Though I don’t know how far it accounts for the other fact he has just impressed on you, Miss Waynefleet certainly possesses a considerable amount of sense. She is also a young lady I have a high opinion of. Still, if he had gone back to the Bush merely because you insisted on it, I think I should have cast him off.”
Gordon appeared to ponder over this, and he then laughed softly. “It’s quite natural, and I guess I sympathize with you,” he remarked. “In one way, however, your nephew’s acquitting himself creditably, considering that there are apparently three people anxious to exert a beneficent influence upon him. The effect of that kind of thing is apt to become a trifle bewildering, especially as it’s evident their views can’t invariably coincide.”
“Three?” said Wisbech, with a twinkle in his eyes. “If you count me in, I almost fancy there are four.”
Nasmyth said nothing, though he felt his face grow hot. Gordon smiled.
“As a matter of fact,” he admitted, “I had a notion that Miss Hamilton resented my being here. Any way, she didn’t take any very noticeable trouble to be pleasant to me to-day. No doubt she considers any influence she may choose to exert should be quite sufficient.”
“It should be,” said Nasmyth. “That is, to any man who happened to be a judge of character, and had eyes in his head.”