[CHAPTER XIII—A NEW PROJECT.]
Vane was sitting alone in the room set apart for the Clermont Company in Nairn’s office, when Drayton was shown in. He took the chair Vane pointed to and lighted a cigar the latter gave him.
“Now,” he began with some diffidence, “you cut me off short when I met you the other day, and one of my reasons for coming over was to get through with what I was saying then. It’s just this—I owe you a good deal for taking care of Kitty; she’s very grateful, and thinks no end of you, I want to say I’ll always feel you have a claim on me.”
Vane smiled at him. It was evident that Kitty had taken her lover into her confidence with regard to her trip on board the sloop, and, that she had done so said a good deal for her.
“It didn’t cost me any trouble,” Vane replied. “We were coming down to Vancouver, anyway.”
Drayton’s embarrassment became more obvious. “It cost you some dollars; there were the tickets. Now I feel I have to—-”
Vane stopped him. “When you are married to Miss Blake you can pay me back, if it will be a relief to you. When’s the wedding to be?”
“In a couple of months,” said Drayton, who saw it would be useless to protest. “I’m a clerk in the Winstanley mills, and, as one of the staff is going, I’ll get a move up then. We are to be married as soon as I do.”
He said a little more on the same subject, and then, after a few moments’ silence added: “I wonder if the Clermont business keeps your hands full, Mr. Vane.”
“It doesn’t. It’s a fact I’m beginning to regret.”