"It was not politics with us," Thane replied curtly. Changing the subject,
he said, "I wish you could see the valley from that hogback over to the
west." He pointed towards the spine of the main divide, which they would
cross on their next day's journey. "Will you come up there this evening and
take a look at the country? The wind will die down at sunset, I think."
There was a studied commonplaceness in his manner; his eyes avoided hers.
"Thanks; I should like to," she answered in the same defensive tone.
* * * * *
"To go back to what we were saying," Daphne began, when they were seated,
that evening, on the hilltop. All around them the view of the world rose
to meet the sky, glowing in the west, purple in the east, while the pale
planets shone, and below them the river glassed and gleamed in its crooked
bed. "I ask you seriously," she said. "What was the trouble between you?"
Doubtless she had a reason for asking, but it was not the one that she
proceeded to give. "Had you--have you, perhaps--any claims in a business
way against him? Because, if you had, it would be most unfair to his
father"--The words gave her difficulty; but her meaning, as forced meanings
are apt to be, was more than plain.
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