Shortly, old Salt returned with the trunk on his shoulder, and put it in the front with himself, and they started.
“Don’t try to talk,” he called back to her, as the horses began a rapid trot. “I can’t hear you against this wind.”
“I’ve no intention of talking,” the girl replied, but the man couldn’t hear her. The wind blew fiercely. It was snowing a little, and the drifts sent feathery clouds through the air. The trees, coated with ice from a recent sleet storm, broke off crackling bits of ice as they passed. The girl looked about, at first curiously, and then timidly, as if frightened by what she saw.
It was not a long ride, and they stopped before a large house, showing comfortably lighted windows and a broad front door that swung open even as the girl was getting down from the sleigh.
“For the land sake!” exclaimed a brisk feminine voice, “this ain’t Letty! Who in the earth have you got here?”
“I don’t know,” Old Salt Adams replied, truthfully. “Take her along, mother, and give her a night’s lodging.”
“Now can’t you see she didn’t come? Do you s’pose I left her at the station? Or dumped her out along the road? No—since you will have it, she didn’t come. She _didn’t_ come!”
Old Salt drove on toward the barns, and Mrs. Adams bade the girl go into the house.
The landlady followed, and as she saw the strange guest she gazed at her in frank curiosity.
“You want a room, I s’pose,” she began. “But, I’m sorry to say we haven’t one vacant—”
“Oh, I’ll take Letty’s. She didn’t come, you see, so I can take her room for tonight.”
“But I would. And I’m here and Letty isn’t. Shall we go right up?”
Picking up her small suitcase, the girl started and then stepped back for the woman to lead the way.
“Not quite so fast—_if_ you please. What is your name?”
As the landlady’s tone changed to a sterner inflection, the girl likewise grew dignified.
“My name is Anita Austin,” she said, coldly. “I came here because I was told it was the best house in Corinth.”
By this time the strange dark eyes had done their work. A steady glance from Anita Austin seemed to compel all the world to do her bidding. At any rate, Mrs. Adams took the suitcase, and without a further word conducted the stranger upstairs.
She took her into an attractive bedroom, presumably made ready for the absent Letty.