Page:Hard-pan; a story of bonanza fortunes (IA hardpanbonanza00bonnrich).pdf/173

Rh had tried to rub away the stains of her tears, and had turned the paper flower on the lamp-globe so that the light, as it fell upon her, was subdued.

The colonel was in good spirits. He laid his packages on the table and began opening them.

"Was n't that Gault that I saw coming away as I came down the street?" he asked.

Viola said "Yes."

"Why did n't you keep him longer? I 'd like to have seen him. Look at that pear," said the old man, holding up a yellow Bartlett that gleamed like wax in the lamplight. "Did you ever see anything finer than that? And there are people who say they don't like the Californian fruit."

Viola did not look at the pear, but he was too occupied in his purchases to notice her.

"He ought to have stayed till I came in. You ought n't to have let him go. Poor old Gault, coming out in all this wet! It 's a devil of a night. You could cut the fog with a knife. What did he have to say for himself?"

"Nothing much," said Viola.

"I don't think myself he 's much of a talker. Now, see what I 've brought for you." Viola heard the tearing away of the wrappers that were folded around the candy-box. "Look, young woman; is n't that tempting?"