“I should like very much to do as he wishes, Mr. 395 Knowles, but I––cannot bear to––meet her. You may realize that it is hard enough at best.”
“Sho! If that’s all,” readily reassured the cowman, “I’ll ask Chuckie to go out and hide in the bushes.”
“But I could not allow that, you know.”
“Then I figure you’ve got to come anyhow. Can’t let you go off without saying good-by to him and Jenny.”
“Jenny?” repeated Ashton.
“It’s all in the family now,” explained Knowles. “Tom has been telling us how he’s got that irrigation project all figured out in his head. He was saying what he and Jenny had planned to do for us even before Chuckie let out her secret. Come on and hear the rest.”
“I fear I must ask you to excuse me, Mr. Knowles. I––”
“No, you don’t,” rejoined the cowman. “After what you’ve done you can’t make me believe you’re afraid of anything. You’ll come and face it out before you go.”
The misery in Ashton’s eyes deepened, and his lips tightened.
“Very well. Since you put it that way, I shall do as you wish, sir.”