"Thank you," he answered. "Thank you, very much. I
shall be very glad." His tone had the meaningless quality of perfunctory
courtesy; Miss Briscoe detected only the courtesy; but the strange lady
marked the lack of intention in his words.
"Don't you include me, Minnie?" inquired Mr Martin, plaintively. "I'll try
not to be too fascinatin', so as to give our young friend a show. It was
love at first sight with me. I give Miss Seliny warning soon as your folks
come in and I got a good look at the lady."
As the buckboard drove away, Miss Sherwood, who had been gazing
steadfastly at the two figures still standing in the street, the tall
ungainly old one, and the taller, loosely-held young one (he had not
turned to look at her) withdrew her eyes from them, bent them seriously
upon Fisbee, and asked: "What did you mean when you said no one was with
him to-night?"
"That no one was watching him," he answered.
"Watching him? I don't understand."
"Yes; he has been shot at from the woods at night and----"
The girl shivered. "But who watches him?"
"The young men of the town. He has a habit of taking long walks after
dark, and he is heedless of all remonstrance. He laughs at the idea of
curtailing the limit of his strolls or keeping within the town when night
has fallen; so the young men have organized a guard for him, and every
evening one of them follows him until he goes to the office to work for
the night.
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