Part 12 (1/2)
”Yes.”
Oliver rolled a cigarette. Not until it was alight did he say:
”Well, you haven't explained yet.”
She was silent, her eyes on the glittering snow of the far-off Sierras.
For the first time since he had met her he found her strangely at a loss for words. And had her direct gaze faltered? Were her eyes evading his?
And was the rich colour of her skin a trifle heightened, or was it the glow from the sun, ever reddening as it climbed its ancient ladder in the sky?
She turned to him then--suddenly. There was in her eyes a look partly of amus.e.m.e.nt, partly of chagrin, partly of shame.
”I can't answer you,” she stated simply. ”I blundered, that's all.
Opened my mouth and put my foot in it.”
”But can't you tell me how you did that even?”
”I talk too much,” was her explanation. ”Like poor old Henry Dodd, I went too far on dangerous ground.”
Oliver tilted his Stetson over one eye and scratched the nape of his neck. ”I pa.s.s,” he said.
”That reminds me,” was her quick return, ”I sat in at a dandy game of draw last night. There was--”
”Wh-_what_!”
”And now I have both feet in my mouth,” she cried. ”And you'll have to admit that comes under the heading, 'Some Stunt.' I thought I saw a chance to brilliantly change the subject, but I see that I'm worse off than before. For now you're not only mystified but terribly shocked.”
He gave this thirty seconds of study.
”I'll have to admit that you jolted me,” he laughed, his face a little redder. ”I'm not accustomed to hearing young ladies say, 'I sat in at a dandy little game of draw'--just like that. But I'm sure I went too far when I showed surprise.”
”And what's your final opinion on the matter?” She was amused--Not worried, not defiant.
”Well, I--I don't just know. I've never given such a matter a great deal of thought.”
”Do so now, please.”
Obediently he tried as they rode along.
”One thing certain,” he said at last, ”it's your own business.”
”Oh, you haven't thought at all! Keep on.”
A minute later he asked: ”Do you like to play poker?”
”Yes.”
”For--er--money?”
”'For--er--money.' What d'ye suppose--crochet needles?”