s at least outwardly calm. He
helped Louise into the seat.

"I'll have you home in no time," said he.

"And you must stay for supper."

"Yes; why not. Might as well."

"And we'll pick up the girls; all of us can crowd in here somewhere."

The slightest pause followed before his answer.

"Certainly," he said. "We can all ride."

Imogene's cabin, however, was the only one showing a light when they
stopped before the pair of little houses, and only Imogene was at
home. She was delighted to go with Lee and Louise. Ruth had driven
with Charlie Menocal to Kennard earlier in the afternoon, she briefly
stated. Then she remarked:

"Aren't you dissipating frightfully to-night, Lee?"

"Like a regular devil," was the response.

CHAPTER XIX

Imogene had been startled by a note in Lee's answer to her bantering
question that she never before had heard him use. Though his words
were uttered lightly, there nevertheless was a hard ring to them, a
grate, as if his teeth were on edge. Something had happened. Ruth had
driven during the afternoon to see him and returned exceedingly put
out. If anything had occurred, Imogene hoped it was--well, one certain
thing.

When Bryant brought her home that evening, he went with her into her
cabin. In silence he built up the fire, fussed for a time with the
lamp-wick, lighted a cigarette, took a turn across the cabin,
inspected thoughtfully the back of one hand, and then lifted his gaze
to Imogene. She had been waiting, with a vague alarm. And this his
stern visage and burning eyes increased.

"Will Ruth marry me at once, do you think?" he questioned.
"To-morrow--or the next day?" His tone was calm. He might have been
speaking of the cabin, asking if it kept out the wind.

Imogene was dumbfounded by that voice and that inquiry. She had
expected anything but either.

"Not then; not so soon, I suspect," she said, at length.

"When? At the end of a week, the end of a fortnight?"

"I can't say," she replied with a sensation now of being harried.
This would not do; she must get herself in hand. "The fact is, Lee,
I'm not in Ruth's confidence. Haven't been for some considerable time.
We've drifted a little apart."

"Only a little?"

"Only a little--I hope."

The cigarette Bryant held had gone out. Presently he glanced at it,
then crushed it in his palm and dropped it into a coat pocket.

"Don't fence with me, Imogene," he said. "Give me the truth."

The truth--well, why