Page:Lost Ecstasy (1927).pdf/67

 its bucking string ahead of it. And Tom McNair was not with it.

Kay could not believe her eyes. When Jake passed the house on the way to his own cottage she stopped him.

"Who won, Jake?"

"Tom McNair got first money."

"That's fine. I didn't see him with the rest."

He rested his kindly faded old eyes on her for a moment, looked away.

"Well, Tom's Tom," he said. "Maybe he's playin' poker in town. You see, ever so often Tom's got to have a little time to himself. There's no harm in him; he's just like a young colt, a bit wild and not halter broke yet."