She waited quietly, a little to one side, watching him, until he should become aware of her presence. What she was thinking would have been hard to define, from the inscrutable eyes in her set, tired face of a child. There was no longer any trace of envy, suspicion or resentment in her attitude toward the young man. You might have guessed that she was trying to analyse him, weighing him in the scales of her impoverished and lopsided knowledge of human nature, and wondering if such conclusions as she was able to arrive at were dependable.
In the course of time he caught sight of that patient, sad little figure, and, pausing, panting and perspiring under the July sun, cheerfully brandished his weapon from the centre of a widespread area of wreckage and destruction.
"Pretty good work for a York dude--not?" he laughed.
There was a shadowy smile in her grave eyes. "It's an improvement," she said evenly.
He shot her a curious glance. "_Ouch!_" he said thoughtfully.
"I just came to tell you," she went on, again immobile, "you're wanted inside."
"Somebody wants to see _me?_" he demanded of her retreating back.
"Blinky Lockwood," she replied over her shoulder, as she went into the house.
"Lockwood?" He speculated, for an instant puzzled. Then suddenly: "Father-in-law!" he cried. "Shivering snakes! he mustn't catch me like this! I, a business man!"
Hastily rolling down his shirt-sleeves and shrugging himself into his coat, he made for the store, buttoning his collar and knotting his tie on the way.
He found Blinky nosing round the room, quite alone. Betty had disappeared, and the old scoundrel was having quite an enjoyable time poking into matters that did not concern him and disapproving of them on general principles. So far as the improvements concerned old Sam Graham's fortunes, Blinky would concede no health in them. But with regard to Duncan there was another story to tell: Duncan apparently controlled money, to some vague extent.
"You're Mr. Duncan, ain't you?" he asked with his leer, moving down to meet Nat.
"That's me." Blinky clutched his hand in a genial claw. "I'm glad to meet you."
"Thank you," said Duncan. "Something I can do for you, sir?"
"Wal, Pete Willin' was tellin' me you'd just took up this note of Graham's?"