Grace and Trenton had sprung apart as Moore passed in the highway and they waited in silence until the sound of his even step over the hard macadam died away. The romp through the corn field had loosened her hair and she began thrusting it back under her hat. Trenton, straightening his tie, looked the least bit crestfallen.
“Who was that?” he asked.
“John Moore, an awfully nice fellow I knew in college. He’s just moving to Indianapolis to go into the law.”
“There’s no question but he saw us. It’s so easy to forget there are other people in the world! I hope his seeing us won’t embarrass you.”
“Oh, John’s all right,” she replied. “The only embarrassment is that I fibbed to him about this afternoon. He asked me to go walking,—we did a lot of tramping at college—and I told him I was going to a matinee.”
“Well, you were!” laughed Trenton; then with an attempt at carelessness, “Is he a suitor?”
“Heavens, no! But I admire John as every one does who knows him. He’s a mighty good friend, and the kindest soul in the world.”
As they resumed their walk toward The Shack she continued talking of John, Trenton manifesting a sympathetic interest and asking questions to elicit further anecdotes of Moore’s varied activities at the University.
“He may be in love with you,” he suggested. “You see I can’t help being just a little jealous of every man you knew before you knew me.”
“If John’s in love with me he’s very successful in concealing it!” she laughed. “No; strange as it may seem, he likes to talk to me and I’m proud of his friendship. He does a lot of reading and thinking. He’s a fine character and you’d be sure to like him. He’s leaving the law school to go into Judge Sander’s office; the Judge has picked him for a winner.”