“I don’t know,” answered Dan. “I wish I did know. Sam tells me Tamlyn does not know. I’m afraid he thinks it is the break-up of old age. I should be glad, though, if she did not patronize that fellow Collinson so much.”
“Every one seems to patronize him.”
“Or to let him patronize them,” corrected Dan. “I can’t like the fellow. He takes too much upon himself.”
“He seems popular. Quite the fashion.”
“Yes, he is that. Since he came here, three or four months ago, the women have been running after him. Do you like him, Johnny Ludlow?” abruptly added Dan.
“I hardly know whether I do or not: I’ve not seen much of him,” was my answer. “As a rule, I don’t care for those people who take much upon themselves. The truth is, Dan,” I laughed jokingly, “you think Collinson shows too much attention to Mina Knox.”
Dan walked on for a few moments in silence. “I am not much afraid of that,” he presently said. “It is the fellow himself I don’t like.”
“And you do like Mina?”
“Well—yes; I do. If Mina and I were older and my means justified it, I would make her my wife to-morrow—I don’t mind telling you so much. And if the man is after her, it is for the sake of her money, mind, not for herself. I’m sure of it. I can see.”
“I thought Collinson had plenty of money of his own.”