For the moment the watcher was so interested in the half-breed that he lost the significance of the foreman’s going. Anton was still standing in the doorway, and the expression of his face was plainly visible in the lamplight. There was a saturnine grin about the lower part of the features, but the black eyes were blazing with a deep fire of hatred. He looked after the departing man until he reached the verandah, then suddenly, as though an inspiration had moved him, he vanished at a run within the stable.
Now Tresler became aware of Jake’s object. He had mounted the verandah and was making for the door of the house. And this sight moved him to immediate action. Without a second thought he set off at a run to warn Diane of the visit. Why he wished to warn her he did not know. Perhaps it was the result of premonition, for he knew quite well that it was Jake’s custom to wait on his chief at about this time in the evening.
He skirted the house well out of range of the light of its windows, and came to the kitchen just in time to hear the blind man calling to his daughter for a light. And when Diane returned from obeying the order she found him waiting for her. Her first feeling was one of apprehension, then love overcame her fears and she ran to him.
“Jack!” she whispered softly. “You here?”
He folded her in a bear-like embrace, and as she raised her face to him to speak he stopped her with a rain of kisses. The joy of the moment had driven the object of his coming from his head, and they stood heart to heart, lost in their mutual happiness, until Jake’s voice, raised in bitter imprecation, reached them from the office. Then Tresler abruptly put her from him.
“I had forgotten, dear,” he said, in a whisper. “No, don’t close that door.” Diane had moved over to the door leading into the dining-room. “Leave it open. It is on that account I am here.”
“On what account?” the girl asked, in some perplexity.
“Jake. There’s something up, and—hark!”
They stood listening. The foreman’s voice was raised again. But now Marbolt’s broke in, sharp, incisive. And the words were plainly audible.