us coloring, she greeted him but coolly.

Porter Barkley, noticing some things and suspecting others, drew a breath
of sudden conviction. With swift jealousy he guessed that this could be
none other than the man to whom Ellsworth had referred,--Anderson, the
lawyer of Heart's Desire. Why had not Ellsworth told him that Constance
also knew him? Porter Barkley ran his eye over the tall strong figure,
the clean brown jaw, the level eyes, sizing up his man with professional
keenness. He instantly rated him as an enemy dangerous in more ways than
one.

After the first jumbled speeches of surprise, Ellsworth introduced the
two. Maugre his coatless costume, Dan Anderson was Princeton man upon
the moment, and Barkley promptly hated him for it, feeling that in the
nature of things the stranger should have been awkward and constrained.
Yet this man must, for business reasons, be handled carefully. He must
be the business friend, if the personal enemy, of Hon. Porter Barkley,
general counsel for the A. P. and S. E. Railway.

The States had come to Sky Top, as Tom Osby had said, and this group,
gathered around a mountain fireside, became suddenly as conventional as
though they had met in a drawing-room. "Who could have suspected that
you were here, of all places, Mr. Anderson?" Constance remarked with
polite surprise.

"Why, now, Dolly," blundered Mr. Ellsworth, "didn't the hotel fellow tell
you that some one had come down from Heart's Desire to hear the latest
from grand opera--private session--chartered the hall, eh? You might
have guessed it would be Mr. Anderson, for I'll warrant he's the only man
in Heart's Desire that ever heard an opera singer before, or who would
ride a hundred miles--that is--anyhow, Mr. Anderson, you are precisely
the man we want to see." He finished his sentence lamely, for he
understood in some mysterious fashion that he had not said quite the
right thing.

"I am very glad to hear that," replied Dan Anderson, gravely, "I was just
sitting here waiting for you to come along."

"Now, Mr. Anderson," resumed Ellsworth, "Mr. Barkley, here, is our
general counsel for the railroad. He's going up to Heart's Desire with
us in a day or so to look into several matters. We want to take up the
question of running our line into the town, if proper arrangements can be
made."

"Take chairs, gentlemen," said Dan Andersen, motioning to a log that lay
near by. He had already seated Constance upon the co