"Did you have a successful trip, Mr. Elliot?" asked Sheba innocently.
Paget grinned behind his hand. The girl's question was like a match to powder, and every one in the room knew it but she. The engineer's interests and his convictions were on the side of Macdonald, but he recognized that Elliot had been sent in to gather facts for the Government and not to give advice to it. If he played fair, he could only tell the truth as he saw it.
The eyes of Diane held a spark of hostility as she leaned forward. The word had already been passed among the faithful that this young man was not taking the right point of view.
"Did you, Gordon?" echoed his hostess.
"I think so," he answered quietly.
"I hear you put up with old Gideon Holt. Is he as cracked as he used to be?" asked Macdonald.
"Was he cracked when you used to know him on Frenchman Creek?" countered the young man.
Macdonald shot a quick, slant look at him. The old man had been talking, had he?
"He was cracked and broke too," laughed the mine-owner hardily. "Cracked when he came, broke when he left."