Carroll changed the subject; but some time later Mrs. Nairn sat down near him in the temporary absence of her husband and Evelyn.
"We will no be disturbed for two or three minutes," she said. "Ye answered Alic like a Scotsman before supper and put him off the track, though that's no so easy done."
Carroll grinned. He enjoyed an encounter with Mrs. Nairn, though she was, as a rule, more than a match for him.
"You're too complimentary," he declared. "The genuine Caledonian caution can't be acquired by outsiders; it's a gift."
"I'll no practise it now," returned the lady. "Ye're no so proud of yourself for nothing. What have ye been after?"
Carroll crossed his finger-tips and looked at her over them.
"Since you ask the question, I may say this—If Miss Chisholm has two lady visitors during the next few days, you might make sure that she sees them."
"What are their names?"
"Miss Celia Hartley, the daughter of the prospector who sent Vane off to look for the timber, and Miss Kitty Blake, who, as you have probably heard, once came down the west coast with him, in company with an elder lady and myself."
Mrs. Nairn started, then she looked thoughtful, and finally she broke into a smile of open appreciation.