The light of one of the porch lamps fell upon Alice's face as she patiently gave heed to Torrence's account of his stewardship. One of her hands gently stroked the terrier that lay quietly in a chair beside her. I was sure that his painstaking description of assets and market values was boring her. Once her voice rose in expostulation. Torrence, I judged, was suggesting that legal means could be found to expel the old Tyringham employees from the Barton property.
"Oh, never in the world! It was quite like Mr. Bashford to want to care for these people in their old age. And"—she laughed and turned toward me—"they can't be dislodged while Bob lives; and we don't want to part with him just yet."
I was glad to have him hear her address me in this intimate fashion. Torry always inspired in me a desire to shock him. He was trying to assure Alice that his only concern was to make her comfortable; he wished to save her from every annoyance and that sort of thing.
"I shall help Alice to break them in, Torry," I said, lingering upon her name for his special edification.
"Of course, Singleton," he replied. "I wasn't sure you meant to stay on. Pardon me, but I didn't——"
"Oh, it isn't that Bob hasn't a right to stay," said Alice quickly; "Mrs. Farnsworth and I are hoping that he will like us well enough to share our exile on other accounts. We are so unfamiliar with everything American that it would be most unkind for him to desert us."
"I am engaging Mr. Singleton to explain American jokes to me," announced Mrs. Farnsworth. "Alice seems to get them, but I'm never sure."
It is a part of Torrence's business to counsel widows, which he does like the honorable man he is, but as he rose to go presently, remarking that his wife would motor down to call shortly, I caught a glimpse of his face that indicated deep perplexity. I wanted to warn him that Alice Bashford was not an ordinary widow, who vexes officers of trust companies with foolish questions and is prone to overdraw her account, so I left when he did.
"I want to talk to you," he said nervously when we were outside. "I'll send the car ahead to the gate."
When the shrubbery cut us off from the house he stopped abruptly and seized my arm. "What do you make of it?" he demanded.