Page:Hard-pan; a story of bonanza fortunes (IA hardpanbonanza00bonnrich).pdf/49

Rh He stopped and greeted the colonel with the polite friendliness to be expected of wayfarers who encounter one another in such distant localities. The colonel, who was always childishly flattered by the notice of well-known men, was expansive, and, after a few moments of casual talk, introduced the younger man to his daughter. Then they walked together to the old man's house, which was some little distance away. The colonel, stopping at the gate, invited the stranger in. John Gault noticed that the girl did not second the invitation, and excused himself on the ground of pressing business. But the colonel, who had never got over the hospitable habits of his beaux jours, urged him to come some evening.

"Viola," said the old man, smiling proudly on his daughter, "will be glad to see you, too. She 's the housewife—runs everything, myself included."

Thus appealed to, she added her invitation to her father's, and Gault said he would come.

As he walked away, he wondered if she wanted him to come. It had seemed to him as if she had spoken under pressure and reluctantly, though she had been perfectly polite. But it was impossible to tell what a woman thought, or when she was pleased or displeased, and the next week he went.

Three months had passed since then. The