“Well, does that necessarily keep Grant away?” asked Dorothy.
“Oh, no, he is not necessarily kept away. He is probably a believer, Miss Dorothy, that absence makes the heart grow fonder.’ I was very disappointed,” Roderick went hurriedly on, smiling, “that Grant was not in town to share the sleigh with me in coming over this morning. Of course he doesn’t know it yet, but he also has been elected as one of the directors of the Encampment Mine and Smelter Company.”
“He has?” exclaimed Dorothy, her face lighting: “My word, but he’ll be all puffed up, won’t he?”
“Oh, no,” replied Roderick, “Grant is a very sensible fellow and he selects his friends and associates with marked discrimination.”
“Well, that’s what I think,” concurred Dorothy emphatically.
She was not a little embarrassed by a second ebullition of general laughter. There was a flush of rising color on her pretty cheeks.
“Well, I don’t care,” she added bravely. “If I like anybody I let them know about it, and that’s all there is to be said.”
While luncheon was in progress, Roderick suggested that as the sleighing was very good and his sleigh a very large one—the seat exceedingly wide—the young ladies should come sleigh-riding with him in the afternoon.
“Splendid,” shouted the sisters in unison. “Certainly, we will be delighted provided mother has no objections.”
“Oh, no,” said Mrs. Shields, good-naturedly. “This first snow of the season makes me feel like having a sleigh-ride myself. But, there, your seat certainly won’t take four of us, and I know that Mr. Shields is too busy to think of getting out his sleigh this afternoon.”