He could convey her safely there, invent some story of a reward delayed for want of proofs, and afterward share that reward with his friends.

He answered promptly, "I will take you there." She took his hands in both of hers, raised them to her lips, and smiled.

The shadow of grief and restraint seemed to have fallen from her face, and a half mischievous, half coquettish gleam in her dark eyes touched the susceptible Cass in so subtle a fashion that he regained the street in some confusion.

He wondered what Miss Porter would have thought.

But was he not returning to her, a fortunate man, with one thousand dollars in his pocket! Why should he remember he was handicapped by a pretty woman and a pathetic episode?
It did not make the proximity less pleasant as he helped her into the coach that evening, nor did the recollection of another ride with another woman obtrude itself upon those consolations which he felt it his duty, from time to time, to offer.