She was moving away.
"Then I shall have to go with you," said the stranger calmly, "if the veteran doesn't object. He knows a woman should not go unattended around the valley. He'd rather see me doing my duty than having a sociable pipe with him and hearing about the war. How about it, Hope?"
He did not stop to hear my answer. Had he waited a moment instead of striding after the girl, with his dog at his heels, he might have seen my reply.
[Illustration: He did not stop to hear my answer.]
I raised my pipe above my head and hurled it against the fence, where it crashed into a score of pieces.
V
"Who is Robert Weston?" I asked of Tim.