By this time the Governor had thrown off the subtle influence of the woman, and smiling, too, he answered:
"Let me tell you all about it, Leslie," and proceeded to do so, despite her protests that she didn't care to hear it. During his recital, however, she broke in with:
"She's awfully attractive, Eliot, to say the least!"
"To tell you the truth, Leslie," he laughed, "I'm not quite sure how far her influence upon me is going to go."
"Surely you don't mean——" began Leslie, but Beekman joined in quickly, soberly, honestly saying:
"Just this: that if she persists, it may result in my seeing Giles Ilingsworth."
"Oh!" The interjection plainly showing her relief. But a moment more and she had recalled Colonel Morehead's warnings that under no circumstances was Beekman to be permitted to hear Ilingsworth's story from his own lips.
Immediately, therefore, to Beekman's surprise, the reserve that had marked her manner dissolved, and she cried:
"Eliot, don't see him! Please don't see him, Eliot!"
"But why not?" he inquired, smiling.