Diana tried twice to speak before she could utter a word. Then she seemed to hear her own voice quite calm. “I do not consider it so. I—I am sorry.�
He turned away. “Thank you,� he said abruptly, “I would like to be, at least, your friend.� He added this with a reluctance that told of a bitter struggle with his own pride.
Diana held out her hand with a gesture as sweet as it was involuntary. “You are,� she said, quite simply. “Mr. Trench, I—I take it as an honor.�
He held her hand, looking at her with an amazement that made her blush deeply. She felt her emotion stifling her, tears were rushing to her eyes. How dreadful it was for him to force her into this position. They were as widely sundered as the poles, and yet she no sooner met his eyes than she wavered and began to yield; she snatched her hand away.
“Thank you a thousand times for saying that!� he murmured.
She fled; she was half-way up the path; the sunshine and the breeze swept down from Angel Pass. She was conscious of him still standing there and turned and looked back. “Good-bye!� she called softly over her shoulder, and was gone.
XVII
IT was in the heat of midsummer that Judge Hollis walked into Caleb’s inner office.
“Caleb,� he said, “I’m hanged if I haven’t changed the color of my coat and come to your opinion. After this I’m for Yarnall.�
Caleb smiled, leaning back wearily in his chair and glancing unconsciously at Sammy, the innocent cause of much scandal in Eshcol, who lay asleep beside Shot on the floor, his chubby arms around the dog’s neck.