"I'll look in another time," he told her. "It's getting late, and I'm due at the bluff to-night."
Soon after he had driven away Farquhar turned up with his wife and Thorne, and Alison noticed the frown on the latter's face when she informed Mrs. Farquhar of Nevis's visit.
"I'm astonished that you have him here at all," he broke out.
"That question," returned Thorne, "strikes me as a little superfluous, considering that he's an utterly unscrupulous, scoundrelly vampire. Still, I dare say you can forgive him a good deal for the sake of his appearance."
"The last, I suppose, is after all his chief offense."
Alison saw that this shot had reached its mark by the way Thorne drew down his brows. The man, as she had heard, had a quick temper, but she was not displeased that he should obviously resent the fact that Nevis had spent half an hour in her company. Then, remembering that Winthrop was a friend of Thorne's, she felt a little guilty, and when later on they all sauntered out across the prairie, she drew him aside.
"There's something I think I should mention," she said. "I told Nevis that Miss Calvert was to have married Winthrop. He seemed unusually interested."
"What on earth made you do that?" he asked sharply. "Did he lead up to it?"
"No," replied Alison with some reluctance, "I don't think he did. So far as I can remember, I volunteered the information."
There was no doubt about the man's displeasure.
"He certainly would be interested, and I'm very much afraid you have made trouble. But you haven't told me why you did it."
"I spoke on the spur of the moment--without thinking."
"Without thinking clearly," Thorne corrected. "For all that, it's possible you had a kind of subconscious motive. You can't deny that you are prejudiced against Winthrop."
Alison was sensible of a certain relief, and she smiled at him. The man had shown some insight, but he had not gone quite far enough in his surmises, for it was not Winthrop but Lucy Calvert against whom she was prejudiced.
"What have I done?" she asked. "If it's any harm, I'm sorry."
Her companion's face relaxed. He never cherished his anger long.
"Well," he explained, "I'm afraid you have put Nevis on Winthrop's trail, though the thing's not certain. After all, it's possible that there's another reason for his interest."