"Bully. I've spoken to Joe, and he's going to see Regan. I say, Dink, drop in soon."
"Sure thing."
"I mean at the house."
"Oh, yes." A little constraint came to him, and then a flush of boyish hope. "I'm coming round."
"Because—the family have been wondering."
When Bob had gone, Stover stood a long while gazing at the excited groups about the fence, retailing the all-important news.
"By George, I'll do it," he said at last. "I'll not leave it to Tommy Bain or Jim Hunter. It may be a fight, but I'm going out to lead because I can do it, and because I believe in the right things." Then he thought over all the incidents of Bob's visit, and he fell into a musing state with sudden wild jumps of the imagination. "I wonder—did he come of his own accord—I wonder if she knew!"
With one of his old-time sudden resolves, he went that very night to the Storys'. The struggle he had come through in victory showed in a new, abrupt self-confidence. He felt older by a year than at his last visit.
Jean Story was at the piano, Jim Hunter on the wide seat beside her, turning over the leaves of her music. He saw it from the hall in the first glance.
The Judge, surprised, came to him, delighted.