d though he was in the arts of simulation, found
difficulty in maintaining a serious appearance. It had not occurred to
him that when a woman conceives a dislike for a man, her mind may lend
itself to processes of deductions that will ultimately saddle the
unfortunate offender with the responsibility for circumstances with
which he is not in the most remote manner connected. It was the most
natural thing in the world for a mind like Mrs. Hardy's, quite without
premeditated injustice, to find in Dave Elden the cause of effects as
far removed as was the collapse of the boom from the good advice he had
given her that day in Conward's office. Conward found the experience
an illuminating one. It was rich with hints of the possibilities that
might arise from apparently innocent sentences dropped at opportune
moments. It was proof that the danger of consequences lies, not in
wronging your neighbour, but in allowing your neighbour to suspect that
you wrong him.

As a result of this discussion, Dave found himself rather less popular
with Mrs. Hardy than before. She treated him with distant civility,
showing such courtesies as convention demanded as an honour, not to
Elden, but to herself. Dave accepted her displeasure with a
light-heartedness that was extremely trying to the good woman's temper.
Had it not been for his desire to spare Irene any unhappiness, he would
have treated it with open flippancy. He was engaged in a much more
serious business than the cajolery of an old woman's whims. He was
engaged in the serious business of capturing the heart of Irene
Hardy--a task made none the easier by the self-imposed condition that
he must conduct no offensive, but must await with such patience as he
could command the voluntary capitulation of the besieged. On the
whole, he told himself he had no reason to be dissatisfied with the
progress of events. He and Irene often motored together, frequently
accompanied by Mrs. Hardy, sometimes by Conward as well, but
occasionally alone. And Irene made no secret of the fact that she
preferred the trips in which only she and Dave participated. On such
occasions the warm summer afternoons found them wandering far over the
prairies, without thought of the homeward trail until the setting sun
poured its ribbon of gold along the crest of the Rockies. The country,
with its long, rolling sweeps of prairie, its clusters of dark green
poplars; its rugged foothills from which grey roots o