"Must you go?" asked Genevieve, with a trace of entreaty that did not escape her aunt.
"Yes," said Blake.
"You'll come to see me soon!"
"Not till I see daylight ahead on the dam. Don't know when that will be. Best I can say is Adios!"
"I trust it will be soon."
"Same here," he responded, and he left the palm room with head down-bent, as if he were already pondering the problem, the solving of which was to free him from the self-imposed taboo of her house.
"My dear Genevieve!" Mrs. Gantry hastened to exclaim. "Why must you encourage the man?"
The girl pointed to the gorgeous blossom of the amaryllis. "That is one reason, Aunt Amice."
"That? What do you mean?"
"Your amaryllis—not the flower itself, but what it stands for to me."