“I understood from Mrs. Nairn that you were away in the bush,” she said.
He turned and regarded her steadily. “That was the case, and I’m shortly going off again. Perhaps it’s fortunate that I may be away some time. It will leave you more at ease.”
The last remark was more of a question than an assertion, and Evelyn knew the man could be direct. She also esteemed candour.
“No,” she said; “I wouldn’t wish you to think that—and I wouldn’t like to believe that I had anything to do with driving you away.”
Vane saw a faintly warmer tone show through the clear pallor of her skin; but while his heart beat faster than usual he felt that she meant just what she said and nothing more. He must proceed with caution, which was, on the whole, foreign to him; and shortly afterwards he left her.
When he had gone, Evelyn sat thinking about him. She had shrunk from the man in rebellious alarm when her parents would have bestowed her hand on him; but even then, and undoubtedly afterwards, she had felt that there was something in his nature which would have attracted her, had she been willing to allow it to do so. Now, though he had said nothing to rouse it, the feeling was stronger. Then she remembered with a rather curious smile her father’s indignation when Vane had withdrawn from the field. He had done this because she had appealed to his generosity, and she had been grateful to him; but, unreasonable as she admitted the faint resentment she was conscious of to be, the recollection of the fact that he had yielded to her wishes was somehow bitter.
In the meanwhile, Carroll had taken his place by Jessie’s side.
“I understand you steered your comrade satisfactorily through the meeting to-day,” she began.
“No,” objected Carroll, “I can’t claim any credit for doing so. In matters of the kind, Vane takes full control, and I’m willing to own that he drove us all, including your brother, on the course he chose.”
“Then it’s in other matters you exercise a little judicious pressure on the helm?”