"No," he said. "I and the rest would have to teach them what was good for them, and if it was needful try to hold them in. Whatever they did, we who brought them here would have to stand in with them."
Hetty accepted the decision in his tone, and sighed. "Well," she said, "we will forget it; and Flo has the coffee ready. That is yours, Larry, and here"s a box of crackers. Now, we"ll try to think of pleasant things. It"s like our old-time picnics. Doesn"t it remind you of the big bluff--only we had a black kettle then, and you made the fire of sticks? There was the day you shot the willow grouse. It isn"t really so very long ago!"
"It seems years," said the man, wistfully. "So much has happened since."
"Well," said Hetty, "I can remember all of it still--the pale blue sky behind the bluff, with the little curl of grey smoke floating up against it. You sat by the fire, Larry, roasting the grouse, and talking about what could be done with the prairie. It was all white in the sunshine, and empty as far as one could see, but you told me it would be a great red wheat-field by and by. I laughed at you for dreaming things that couldn"t be, but we were very happy that day."
Grant"s face was very sad for a moment, but he turned to Miss Schuyler with a little smile. "Hetty is leaving you out," he said.
"I wasn"t there, you see," Miss Schuyler said quickly. "Those days belong to you and Hetty."
Hetty glanced at her sharply, and fancied there was a slightly strained expression in the smiling face, but the next moment Miss Schuyler laughed.
"What are you thinking, Flo?" said Hetty.
"It was scarcely worth mentioning. I was wondering how it was that the only times we have crossed the bridge we met Mr. Grant."
"That"s quite simple," said Larry. "Each time it was on Wednesday, and I generally drive round to see if I am wanted anywhere that day. They have had to do almost without provisions at the homesteads in the hollow lately. Your dollars will be very welcome, Hetty."
Hetty blushed for no especial reason, except that when Grant mentioned Wednesday she felt that Flora Schuyler"s eyes were upon her. Then, a voice rose up below.
"h.e.l.lo! All quiet, Jake?"
There were footsteps in the snow outside, and when the sentry answered, the words just reached those who listened in the room.
"I had a kind of notion I saw something moving in the bluff, but I couldn"t be quite sure," he said. "There was a door or window banged up there on the verandah a while ago, but that must have been done by one of the women in the house."
Grant rose and drew back the curtain, when, after a patter of footsteps, the voices commenced again.
"Somebody has come in straight from the bluff," said one of the men. "You can see where he has been, but I"m blamed if I can figure where he went to unless it was up the post into the verandah, and he couldn"t have done that without Miss Torrance hearing him. I"ll stop right here, any way, and I wish my two hours were up."
"I"m that stiff I can scarcely move," said the man relieved, and there was silence in the room, until Hetty turned to the others in dismay.
"He is going to stay there two hours, and he would see us the moment we opened the window," she said.
Grant quickly put on his big fur coat, and unnoticed, he fancied, slipped one hand down on something that was girded on the belt beneath it.
"I must get away at once--through the house," he said.
Hetty had, however, seen the swift motion of his hand.
"There"s a man with a rifle in the hall," she said, shudderingly. "Flo, can"t you think of something?"
Flora Schuyler looked at them quietly. "I fancy it would not be very difficult for Mr. Grant to get away, but the trouble is that n.o.body must know he has been near the place. That is the one thing your father could not forgive, Hetty."
Hetty turned her head a little, but Grant nodded. "Had it been otherwise I should have gone an hour ago," he said.
"Well," said Flora Schuyler, with a curious look in her face, "while I fancy we can get you away unnoticed, if anybody did see you, it needn"t appear quite certain that it was any affair with Hetty that brought you."
"No?" said Hetty, very sharply. "What do you mean, Flo?"
Miss Schuyler smiled a little and looked Grant in the eyes. "What would appear base treachery in Hetty"s case would be less astonishing in me. Mr.
Grant, you must not run risks again to talk to me, but since you have done it I must see you through. You are sure there is only one cow-boy in the hall, Hetty?"
Hetty turned and looked at them. Flora Schuyler was smiling bravely, the man standing still with grave astonishment in his eyes.
"No," she said, with quick incisiveness, "I can"t let you, Flo."
"I don"t think I asked your permission," said Miss Schuyler. "Could you explain this to your father, Hetty? I believe he would not be angry with me. Adventurous gallantry is, I understand, quite approved of on the prairie. Call your maid. Mr. Grant, will you come with me?"
For several seconds Hetty stood silent, recognizing that what Torrance might smile at in his guest would appear almost a crime in his daughter, but still horribly unwilling. Then, as Flora Schuyler, with a half-impatient gesture, signed to Grant, she touched a little gong, and a few moments later her maid met them in the corridor. The girl stopped suddenly, gasping a little as she stared at Grant, until Hetty grasped her arm, nipping it cruelly.
"If you scream or do anything silly you will be ever so sorry," she said.
"Go down into the hall and talk to Jo. Keep him where the stove is, with his back to the door."
"But how am I to do it?" the girl asked.
"Take him something to eat," Miss Schuyler said impatiently. "Any way, it should not be hard to fool him--I have seen him looking at you. Now, I wonder if that grey dress of mine would fit you--I have scarcely had it on, but it"s a little too tight for me."
The girl"s eyes glistened, she moved swiftly down the corridor, Flora Schuyler laughed, and Grant looked away.
"Larry," said Hetty, "it isn"t just what one would like--but I am afraid it is necessary."
Five minutes later Hetty moved across the hall, making a little noise, so that the cow-boy, who stood near the other end of it, with the maid close by him, should notice her. She softly opened the outer door, and then came back and signed to Grant and Flora Schuyler, who stood waiting in the corridor.
"No," he said, and the lamplight showed a darker hue than the bronze of frost and sun in his face. "Miss Schuyler, I have never felt quite so mean before, and you will leave the rest to me."
"It seems to me," she said coolly, "that what you feel does not count for much. Just now you have to do what is best for everybody. Stoop as low as you can."
She stretched out her hand with a little imperious gesture, and laid it on his arm, drawing herself up to her full height as she stood between him and the light. They moved forward together, and Hetty closed her hand as she watched them pa.s.s into the hall. The end was dim and shadowy, for the one big lamp that was lighted stood some distance away by the stove, where the man on watch was talking to the maid. Hetty realized that the girl was playing her part well as she saw her make a swift step backwards, and heard the man"s low laugh.
Flora Schuyler and Grant were not far from the door now, the girl walking close to her companion. In another moment they would have pa.s.sed out of sight into the shadow, but while Hetty felt her fingers trembling, the man on watch, perhaps hearing their footsteps, turned round.
"Hallo!" he said. "It seems kind of cold. What can Miss Schuyler want with opening the door? Is that Miss Torrance behind her?"
He moved forward a pace, apparently not looking where he was going, but towards the door, and might have moved further, but that the maid swiftly stretched out one foot, and a chair with the tray laid on it went over with a crash.
"Now there"s going to be trouble. See what you"ve done," she said.
The man stopped, staring at the wreck upon the floor.
"Well," he said, "I"m blamed if I touched the thing. What made it fall over, any way?"
"Pick them up," the girl said sharply. "You don"t want to make trouble for me!"
He stooped, and Hetty gasped with relief as she saw him carefully sc.r.a.ping some dainty from the floor, for just then one of the two figures slipped away from the other, and there was a sound that might have been made by a softly closing door. The cow-boy looked up quickly, and saw Miss Torrance and Miss Schuyler standing close together, then stood up as they came towards him. Hetty paused and surveyed the overturned crockery, and then, though her heart was throbbing painfully, gave the man a glance of ironical inquiry. He looked at the maid as if for inspiration, but she stood meekly still, the picture of bashful confusion.
"I"m quite sorry, Miss Torrance," he said. "The concerned thing went over."