Luncheon was served in the pleasant filtered sunlight, almost under the shadow of the great dam.
On the way out Melissy had sat as demure and dovelike as it was possible for her to be. But now she showed herself to be another creature.
Two or three young men hovered about her; notable among them was a young fellow of not many words, good-humored, strong, with a look of power about him which the railroad king appreciated. Jack Flatray they called him. He was the newly-elected sheriff of the county.
The great man watched the girl without appearing to do so. He was rather at a loss to account for the exotic, flamelike beauty into which she had suddenly sparkled; but he was inclined to attribute it to the arrival of Flatray.
Melissy sat on a flat rock beside West, swinging her foot occasionally with the sheer active joy of life, the while she munched sandwiches and pickles. The young men bantered her and each other, and she flashed back retorts which gave them alternately 202 deep delight at the discomfiture of some other. Toward the close of luncheon, she turned her tilted chin from Flatray, as punishment for some audacity of his, and beamed upon the railroad magnate.
“It’s very good of you to notice me at last,” he said, with his dry smile.
“I was afraid of you,” she confided cheerfully.
“Am I so awesome?”
“It’s your reputation, you know. You’re quite a dragon. I’m told you gobble a new railroad every morning for breakfast.”
“’Lissie,” her father warned.