"I am not cheeky enough to advise such a man about picking his political support. I beg your pardon, Miss Presson!" He bowed. He turned to Linton. "I hope you won't open this subject with me again, Mr. Linton. I am so loyal to General Waymouth that you cannot explain satisfactorily to me any reasons why you should have deserted him to-day! You will see now why the topic should not be referred to again between us."
Linton bristled.
"If you take such an unjust view of it as that, I certainly feel that the matter should be referred to again between us—at the proper time!"
"I'd advise you to take my hint," retorted Harlan.
They stared at each other, eye to eye, both plainly wishing with all heartiness that no feminine presence hampered them.
The girl laughed.
"Coffee and pistols for two! If each other's company makes you so impolite, I'll be compelled to separate you. Come, Mr. Harlan Thornton, baron of Fort Canibas, you have volunteered to see me safely home."
He offered his arm, and they followed Mrs. Presson, who had already started for the carriage. He rode with them to the station, flushed and silent, and the girl studied his face covertly and with some curiosity.
On the train, in the first of their tête-à-tête, she sounded him cautiously, trying to discover if his feelings toward Linton were inspired wholly by political differences. She seemed to suspect there was something more behind it, even at the risk of flattering herself. But she had detected certain suggestive symptoms in the demeanor of Harlan at the breakfast-table that morning. He did not betray himself under her deft questioning. But he promptly grew amiable, and before the end of their railroad ride that day she had proved to her own satisfaction that her ability to interest young men had not been thrown away upon him. The light in his eyes and the zest of his chatter with her told their own story. He left her at her home with a regret that he did not hide from her.
And yet, when he was at last in his room at the hotel that night, he wrote to Clare Kavanagh the longest letter of all those he had written to her since he left Fort Canibas.