Half an hour later he drove up in a light buggy and handed the horse over to one of the teamsters. Then he walked up on the veranda, where Florence was still sitting with the bills before her. Turning around when he had greeted her, he pointed to the plodding teams which moved down the long furrows that ran back from the house.
"I didn't see Elcot at work with the boys as I drove by," he said.
"He is away and probably will not be back until after supper."
"I'm sorry I can't wait so long," Nevis replied, taking the chair to which she pointed. "Anyway, it isn't a matter of much importance, and I'll try to call again."
Florence sent for some tea, though it is seldom that refreshments of any kind are provided between the regular meals on the prairie, and then leaned back in her chair watching him while he sat with his cup in his hand. He was, as she had decided on other occasions, a well-favored man, dark-haired and dark-eyed, and, as usual, he was artistically dressed. The hat he had laid on a neighboring chair was a genuine Panama, such as Mexican half-breeds spend months in weaving; his rather tight, light-colored clothes were excellently cut; and once more it struck her with a sense of injury that it was a pity Elcot insisted on attiring himself as his teamsters did.
"I had half expected to find you gone," he said; "you mentioned a visit to Toronto when I last saw you. After all, if your husband can spare you, it must be nice to get away. You must feel that you are rather wasted here."
This was a point on which Florence was convinced already and she did not in the least object to his mentioning it.
"Elcot," she replied dryly, "has his farm."
"Well," responded Nevis, "I'm glad you haven't gone. The rest of us can badly spare the one bright light which shines upon our primitive obscurity."
His hostess did not check him. The man was usually rather daring, and she seldom resented a speech of this kind, no matter from whom it came.
"In any case, I am not going," she informed him. "That"--she pointed to the bundle of papers--"is the reason."
Before she could prevent it he took them up and flicked them over. Then he turned and looked at her with a smile in his dark eyes.
"On examination of them I'm inclined to think the reason's a good one."