I caught my breath with a gasp.
“You did that!” I exclaimed. “You did that, for me!”
“Why not? Surely you had done enough for—us. I could not let you be 'driven from town', you know.”
I did not speak. I knew that I must not attempt a reply. I should say too much. She looked up at me, and then down again at the pine-needles beneath our feet.
“Father says he intends to do great things for you,” she went on. “He says you are to come with him. He is enthusiastic about it. He believes you are a great man. No one but a great man, he says, could beat the Consolidated Pacific gang single-handed. He says you will be the best investment he ever made.”
“I am afraid not,” I answered. “Your father made me a generous offer. I wish I might have been able to accept it, but I could not.”
“Oh, but you are going to accept.”
“No, I am not.”
“He says you are. And he always has his way, you know.”
“Not in this case, Miss Colton.”