Part 45 (1/2)

”That's true; they've made me feel half ashamed. I never expected this.”

”In my opinion, the sensation's quite unnecessary. You have given a few people a lift in your time, and I've an optimistic notion that actions of the kind recoil on one, even though it's a different person who makes you some return.”

”I wish you would stop talking!” George exclaimed impatiently.

Edgar mentally compared Flora Grant with Sylvia, in whom he disbelieved, and found it hard to restrain himself. It was, he felt, a great misfortune that George could not be made to see.

”Oh, well!” he acquiesced. ”I could say a good deal more, if I thought it would do any good, but as that doesn't seem likely I'll dry up.”

”That's a comfort,” George said shortly.

He left the granary in a thoughtful mood, and on the following evening drove over to the Grant homestead. Its owner was busy somewhere outside when he reached it, but Flora received him and he sat down with satisfaction to talk to her. It had become a pleasure to visit the Grants; he felt at home in their house. The absence of all ceremony, the simple Canadian life, had a growing attraction for him. One could get to know these people, which was a different thing from merely meeting them, and George thought this was to some extent the effect of their surroundings. He had always been conscious of a closer and more intimate contact with his friends upon the mountain-side or the banks of some salmon river than he had ever experienced in a club or drawing-room. For all that, Flora sometimes slightly puzzled him. She was free from the affectations and restraints of artificial conventionality, but there was a reserve about her which he failed to penetrate. He wondered what lay behind it and had a curious feeling that Edgar either guessed or knew.

”Did you enjoy your visit to Winnipeg?” she asked.

”It was a pleasant change and I got through my business satisfactorily.

Of course, I didn't go for amus.e.m.e.nt.”

Flora laughed.

”So I supposed; you're growing more Canadian every day. But you meant to make a visit to England, which couldn't have had any connection with business, last winter, didn't you?”

George's face grew serious. He had, she thought, not got over his disappointment.

”Yes,” he said. ”But there was nothing to be done here then.”

”So the things that should be done invariably come first with you?”

”In this case--I mean as far as they concern the farm--it's necessary.”

Flora considered his answer, studying him quietly, though she had some sewing in her hands. Supposing, as she had once thought, there was some English girl he had longed to see, he could have made the journey later, when his crop had been sown, even though this entailed some neglect of minor operations that required his care. He received, as she had learned with interest, few English letters, so there was n.o.body to whom he wrote regularly; and yet his disappointment when forced to abandon his visit had obviously been keen. There was, Flora thought, a mystery here.

”After all,” she said, ”the feeling you have indicated is pretty common in the Canadian wheat-belt.”

”Then why should you expect me to be an exception? As a matter of fact, I'm at least as anxious as my neighbors to be successful. That's partly why I've come over to-night.” His voice grew deeper and softer as he continued. ”I want to thank you and your father for your surprising generosity.”

”Surprising?” responded Flora lightly, though she was stirred by the signs of feeling he displayed. ”Do you know you're not altogether complimentary?”

He smiled.

”You'll forgive the slip; when one feels strongly, it's difficult to choose one's words. Anyway, to get that seed, and so much of it, is an immense relief. I'm deeply grateful; the more so because your action was so spontaneous. I haven't a shadow of a claim on you.”

Flora put down her sewing and looked at him directly.

”I don't think you ought to say that--do you wish to be considered a stranger?”

”No,” George declared impulsively. ”It's the last thing I want.

Still, you see--”

She was pleased with his eagerness, but she checked him.