"Flatterer!" laughed Helen, shaking her finger.
"And a married man, too!" continued Betty.
"Well, being married has not affected my poetical sentiment, nor impaired my eyesight."
"But it has seriously inconvenienced your old propensity of making love to the girls. Not that you wouldn't if you dared," replied Betty with mischief in her eye.
"Now, Will, what do you think of that? Isn't it real sisterly regard?
Come, we'll go and look at my thoroughbreds," said Colonel Zane.
"Where is Jonathan?" Helen asked presently. "Something happened at
Metzar's yesterday. Papa wouldn't tell me, and I want to ask
Jonathan."
"Jack is down by the spring. He spends a great deal of his time there.
It's shady and cool, and the water babbles over the stones."
"How much alone he is," said Helen.
Betty took her former position on the steps, but did not raise her eyes while she continued speaking. "Yes, he's more alone than ever lately, and quieter, too. He hardly ever speaks now. There must be something on his mind more serious than horse-thieves."
"What?" Helen asked quickly.