Page:Caroline Lockhart--The Fighting Shepherdess.djvu/353

 elegance. Filled with the wonder of it, he forgot for a moment the specter which had been his sleeping and waking companion for some weeks past and which had confronted him with the substance of reality at Toomey's taunt.

The banker went to meet Kate with an outstretched hand.

"You've been gone a long time; I've been wondering when we'd see you back."

"I've been east," she replied, casually.

" The trip's did wonders for you. You look — well, bloomin' isn't hardly strong enough. Miss Prentice, I want you to meet my wife — you must."

" Thanks — so much." A certain dryness momentarily disconcerted Mr. Wentz.

With a shade of chagrin Mr. Wentz returned to his desk, telling himself inelegantly that she was "feeling her oats."

Kate filled out a check in a deliberate and careful way and passed it in to the cashier, who had been noting the details of her appearance with unqualified interest. Her eyes had an increased brillancy and there was a faint flush on her cheeks, but otherwise there was nothing in her impassive face to show how fast her heart was beating as she waited in the silence to learn if the blow she meant to strike had been well-timed or not.

She was not kept long in suspense. The swift consternation which made the cashier's color fade when he grasped the fact that the check was for the full amount of her deposit told her all she wished to know. The shadow of her enigmatic smile rested on her lips.

She was curiously aware of every sound — the ticking of the flat clock against the wall, the scratching of Wentz's pen, the steps of passersby on the sidewalk - as she