Page:Outlawandlawmak00praegoog.djvu/97

Rh "I don't understand you, Mr. Trant; or how what you say can in any way apply to me."

"They say you are a flirt. So is Blake."

"Well?"

"He never cared for a woman in his life, Miss Valliant; but it has always been with him as it is with the sportsman after game. The more difficult it is to get, the more fellows there are after it, the more determined he is that it should fall to his gun. Blake would follow a woman he thought worth his trouble through thick and thin till he had got her down at his feet."

"And then?"

"Why, then, Miss Valliant, he'd tell her that he had no heart to give, and he would leave her to further enjoy the excitement of going after other game. That is all Blake cares for—the excitement of doing what other people have failed to do."

"And so," said Elsie, "Mr. Blake goes about with women's scalps at his belt, and you fancy that he might do me the honour of wishing to adorn himself with mine. It is very kind of you to warn me. Why are you so interested in my welfare?"

"Because I want you for myself," said Trant, brutally.

"That is very kind of you, too," said Elsie. "I like your way of playing a game, Mr. Trant. It is honest, at any rate." She turned to Frank Hallett and pointedly avoided Trant.

He came up to her, however, as soon as dinner was over.

"I have come to beg your pardon. I'm a rough brute. I throw myself on your mercy."

"Please don't offend again then," said Elsie.

"I'll go on my knees to you, if you like. I'll promise anything. The only thing I'm good for is to sing. Mrs. Jem Hallett has asked me to sing. You'll forgive me when you hear me sing. I am going to sing something to you."

The man was right. His merit lay in his voice. It was impossible not to be moved by his singing. They were all sitting out in the verandah or strolling about the star-lit