"Ah!" said Eleanor, "don't misunderstand. Jimmy would flinch from nothing on a steamer's bridge. Still, it isn't nerve of that kind that will be needed, and Miss Merril has a hold on him."
Jordan saw the faint sparkle in her eyes. "After all, you can't hold the girl responsible for her father?"
"I do," said Eleanor, with a curious bitter smile. "At least, I would keep her away from Jimmy."
Jordan said nothing, but there was trouble in his face, for he had seen how things were going, and though he was Eleanor's lover he was Jimmy's friend. When they reached the ranch they found that Mrs. Forster had come back, and she glanced at Jordan with a smile in her eyes when he crossed the room.
"Do you know that you have split your jacket up the back?" she asked.
Jordan looked reproachfully at Forster. "Well," he said, "I almost think that your husband does."
"Then he will lend you another one while I sew it for you."
"One would fancy that Eleanor would prefer to do it," said the rancher dryly.
His wife pursed up her face. "It is possible that she may bring herself to do such things by and by. Still, I can't quite imagine Eleanor quietly sitting down and mending a man's clothes."
Jordan laughed. "It's quite likely that she'll have to. It depends on how the Shasta pleases the miners. Forster, I'll trouble you to lend me a jacket. I guess you owe it to me."