Part 34 (1/2)
For the next few moments Jessy sat silent. It was clear that she had misjudged him, for although she was not one who demanded too much from human nature, the fact that Kitty Blake had arrived in Vancouver in his company had undoubtedly rankled in her mind. Now she acquitted him of any blame, and it was a relief to do so. She changed the subject abruptly.
”I suppose you will make another attempt to find the timber?”
”Yes. In a week or two.”
He had hardly spoken when Mrs. Nairn came in and welcomed him with her usual friendliness.
”I'm glad to see ye, though ye're looking thin,” she said. ”What's the way ye did not come straight to us, instead of going to the hotel. Ye would have got as good a supper as they would give ye there.”
”I haven't a doubt of it,” Vane declared. ”On the other hand, I hardly think that even one of your suppers would quite have put right the defect in my appearance you mentioned. You see, the cause of it has been at work for some time.”
Mrs. Nairn regarded him with half-amused compa.s.sion.
”If ye'll come over every evening, we'll soon cure that. I would have been down sooner if Alic had not kept me. He's writing letters, and there was a matter or two he wanted to ask my opinion on.”
”I think that was very wise of him,” Vane commented.
His hostess smiled.
”For one thing, we had a letter from Evelyn Chisholm this afternoon.
She'll be out to spend some time with us in about a month.”
”Evelyn's coming here?” Vane exclaimed, with a sudden stirring of his heart.
”Why should she no? I told ye some time ago that we partly expected her.
Ye were no astonished then.”
She appeared to expect an explanation of the change in his att.i.tude, and as he volunteered none she drew him a few paces aside.
”If I'm no betraying a confidence, Evelyn writes--I'm no sure of the exact words--that she'll be glad to get away a while. Now, I've been wondering why she should be anxious to leave home?”
She looked at him fixedly, and, to his annoyance, he felt his face grow hot. Mrs. Nairn had quick perceptions, and now and then she was painfully direct.
”It struck me that Evelyn was not very comfortable there,” he replied.
”She seemed out of harmony with her people--she didn't belong. The same thing,” he went on lamely, ”applies to Mopsy.”
Mrs. Nairn glanced at him with a twinkle in her eyes.
”It's no unlikely. The reason may serve--for the want of a better.” Then she changed her tone. ”Ye'll away up to Alic; he told me to send ye.”
Vane went out of the room, but he left Jessy in a thoughtful mood. She had seen his start at the mention of Evelyn, and it struck her as significant, for she had heard that he had spent some time with the Chisholms. On the other hand, there was the obvious fact that he had been astonished to hear that Evelyn was coming out, which implied that their acquaintance had not progressed far enough to warrant the girl's informing him. Besides, Evelyn would not arrive for a month; and Jessy reflected that she would probably see a good deal of Vane in the meanwhile. She now felt glad that she had promised to look after Celia Hartley, for that, no doubt, would necessitate her consulting with him every now and then. She endeavored to dismiss the matter from her mind, however, and exerted herself to interest Mrs. Nairn in a description of a function she had lately attended.
CHAPTER XIX
VANE FORESEES TROUBLE
Nairn was sitting at a writing-table when Vane entered his room, and after a few questions about his journey he handed the younger man one of the papers that lay in front of him.