“Oh, if that's all!” her friend smiled.
“That's quite all.”
“Perhaps you prefer Texans who come from the Panhandle.”
Mrs. Collins happened to be looking straight at her out of her big brown eyes. Wherefore she could not help observing the pink glow that deepened in the soft cheeks.
“He hasn't preferred me much lately.”
Nellie knitted her brow in perplexity. “I don't understand. Steve's been away, too, nearly all the time. Something is going on that we don't know about.”
“Not that I care. Mr. Neill is welcome to stay away.”
Her new friend shot a swift slant look at her. “I don't suppose you trample on him much.”
Margaret flushed. “No, I don't. It's the other way. I never saw anybody so rude. He does not seem to have any saving sense of the proper thing.”
“He's a man, dearie, and a good one. He may be untrammeled by convention, but he is clean and brave. He has eyes that look through cowardice and treachery, fine strong eyes that are honest and unafraid.”