At nine o"clock, came Timothy Baldwin. Miss Weldon met him at the window, looked at him, half curiously, half fearfully, and after lifting her lips for a fleeting kiss, backed quickly away from him into a remote corner.
Then Nolan, according to prearranged plan, suggested that he and Eveley run down and put the car in the garage. "And if there is a moon, we may go for a joy-ride, so don"t expect us back too soon."
And as they rode he spoke so unconcernedly of Sally"s smiles and curls and pretty hands, that Eveley was restored to her original enthusiasm for the campaign.
"Won"t she be wild?" she chuckled, snuggling close against Nolan"s side, but never forgetting that she was mistress of the wheel. "Tim is going to talk business all the time, and at ten-thirty he is going to say he must hurry home to rest up for a hard day"s work to-morrow. We are not to get in until eleven, so she will be utterly bored to distraction. Isn"t it fun?"
They drove slowly, happily around the park, over the bridge and under the bridge, around the eucalyptus knoll above the lights on the bay, and then went down-town for ice-cream. At exactly eleven o"clock, Nolan took her hands as she stood on the bottom step of the rustic stair.
"I can"t say it is your duty to--be good to me--but I hope it will make you happy. And by the rules of your own game, I have a right selfishly to insist on your being always sweet and wonderful to me, and to me alone."
"Just what do you mean by that, Nolan?"
"Nothing, of course, but can"t you use your imagination?"
"No, I can"t. That is for brides and fiancees, not for unattached working girls like me."
Then she ran on up the stairs, and Nolan went home.
True to arrangement, Tim had gone at ten-thirty, and Miss Weldon in a soft negligee was sitting alone pensively, before the fire.
"Tim has changed," she said briefly. "I think he has more sense, but a little less--er--warmth, I might say."
"Do you think so? He works very hard. He is fearfully ambitious and they think everything of him at the office."
"Yes? Then he must certainly have changed. He was not keen on business at Salt Lake. He lost three jobs in eight weeks. That is why he came west.
And his father has financed half a dozen ventures for him. But perhaps he has settled down, and will do all right. I love your little apartment, and it is dear to call it a Cloud Cote, and Mr. Nolan is perfectly charming. Timmy asked us to meet him at Rudder"s for luncheon, you and me and your Mr. Nolan, also."
"Oh, that is nice," said Eveley. "I"ll come up for you in the car a few minutes earlier. You won"t mind being alone most of the day, will you? I work, you know."
"No, I rather like being alone. I sew some, and I shall read, and there are letters to write. I do not mind being alone."
Eveley found her really very agreeable, quite pleasant to entertain. And after all Nolan had only done as she requested, and there was nothing personal in it. It was lots of fun, but it must stop before Miss Weldon had time to grow really fond of Nolan, for of course she could not have him under any circ.u.mstances. Eveley absolutely disbelieved in any form of duty, still she would not feel justified in carrying her animosity to the point of wilfully breaking innocent hearts.
At twelve-thirty the next day, Eveley and Miss Weldon entered the small waiting-room of Rudder"s cafe. Nolan was already there. They waited fifteen minutes for Timothy, and then a messenger came down to them with a note. Mr. Baldwin was so sorry, but business was urgent, and they must go right ahead and have luncheon without him. He would telephone them later in the evening if he could come up.
Sally Weldon pursed her lips a little, but she smiled at Nolan. "Can you beau us both, Mr. Inglish? We think we are mighty lucky to have half a beau a piece on working days. Are you the only man in this whole town who does not work like a slave?"
So they found a pleasant table in the cafe, and dawdled long over their luncheon, laughing and chatting. Then they took Nolan back to his office, and Eveley and Sally went for a drive on the beach to La Jolla.
"But don"t you have to work?" asked Sally, observing that it was long after two when they finally turned back toward the office.
Eveley shrugged her shoulders prettily.
"Oh, n.o.body works much but Mr. Baldwin," she said. "He does the grinding for the whole force."
Miss Weldon frowned a little, but said nothing.
That evening she had the dinner nicely started when Eveley reached home, and Eveley was loud in praise of her guest"s skill and cleverness.
"It is just lovely, but you must not work. You are company."
"I rather like to cook. I took a long course in it four years ago when Timmy and I were first engaged, and I have done all the housekeeping at home since then. Daddy pays me double the salary we used to pay the cook, and I provide better meals and more cheaply than she did. Daddy says so himself."
"Why, Sally," cried Eveley warmly, "I think that is wonderful. I am surprised. I thought--I supposed--"
"Oh, I know what you thought," laughed Sally brightly. "Everybody thinks so, and it is true. I am very gay and frivolous. I love to dance and sing and play. And I abhor solemn ugly grimy things, and I think the only Christian duty in the world is being happy."
Eveley flushed at that, and turned quickly away.
Later Nolan joined them for dinner, and the little party was waxing very gay long before Tim called. Then it was only to say that he would be working late, but was sending them tickets for the theater and would join them afterward for supper at the Grant.
"Does he always work as hard as this?" asked Sally, looking steadily into Eveley"s face.
"He always works pretty hard," said Eveley truthfully, "but he does seem busier than usual right now."
Miss Weldon only laughed, and they talked of other things. Nolan went down with them in the car, Eveley driving alone in front, but somehow she felt her pretty guest to be less of a menace since she was guilty of sensible things like cooking and sewing.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Just what do you mean by that?"]
Eveley did not explain that Timothy had felt inclined to join them for dinner and the show that night after disappointing them at luncheon, but she had been firm with him.
"Not to-day," she insisted. "You can only have one hour with us to-night.
To-morrow you can join us for luncheon and a short drive afterward, if you will fix it so I can get off."
He was at the Grant waiting when they arrived, and rather impatient.
"Did you have a pleasant time?" he asked, looking into Sally"s bright face.
"Lovely. And did you hurry terribly to meet us? We don"t want to interfere with your work, or bother you."
He searched her face for signs of guile, but her eyes were unclouded, and her manner indicated only a friendly concern for his interests.
It was a very happy party that night. Both girls were merry, and Nolan was really more solicitously attentive to Sally than was quite necessary even in the interests of a campaign directed against her. When at a late hour, they trooped out to the car, it was he who helped her carefully into the machine, though, with seeming reluctance, he permitted Timothy to sit with her while he joined Eveley in the front seat.
"Timmy is good-looking, don"t you think?" Sally asked that night, as they were preparing for bed.
"Yes, if he did not work so hard. Young men should not kill themselves with labor."
"Your Nolan is handsomer, perhaps," said Sally pleasantly.
The next day Timothy did meet them for luncheon, after keeping them waiting for twenty minutes, and later they went for a fast ride out Point Loma. But that night he did not see them at all, though he told Eveley he thought she was rather rubbing it in, cheating him out of so many pleasant parties and good times.
"I may not want to marry her, but it is good sport chasing around," he protested.
But Eveley was very stern. He had put himself in her hands, and he must obey without argument, and that settled it. And when he suggested that it would look better if he and Sally had one party by themselves without Nolan tagging at their heels, she frowned it down.
"One private party can spoil a whole week of hard work," she decreed.