“Hello!” the other replied, and then added. “This is my cousin, Miss Wygant. Glad, this is Samuel Prescott.”
The girl made a slight acknowledgment, and stared at Samuel with a look in which curiosity and hauteur were equally mingled. She was a brunette with dark hair, and an almost Oriental richness of coloring. She was lithe and gracefully built, and quick in her motions. There was eager alertness in her whole aspect; her glance was swift and her voice imperious. One could read her at a glance for a person accustomed to command--impatient and adventurous, passionate and proud.
“I've had an adventure,” said her cousin by way of explanation. “Samuel, here, saved my life.”
And Samuel thrilled to see the sudden look of interest which came into the girl's face.
“Yes,” said the other. “Spitfire ran away with me.”
“Yes. The rein broke. He started near the gate here and ran three or four miles with me.”
“Bertie!” cried the girl. “And what happened?”
“It was splendid, Glad--the nerviest thing I ever saw. He just flung himself at the rein and caught it and hung on. He saved my life, beyond question.”
And now Samuel, burning up with embarrassment, faced the full blaze of the girl's impetuous interest. “How perfectly fine!” she exclaimed; then, “Where do you come from?” she asked.
“He's just off a farm,” said Lockman. “He was on his way to New York to make his fortune. And think of it, Glad, he'd been robbed, and he'd been wandering about town begging for work, and he was nearly starving.”
She took a chair and indicated to Samuel to sit in front of her. “Tell me all about yourself,” she said; and proceeded to cross-question him about his life and his adventures.
Poor Samuel was like a witness in the hands of a prosecutor--he became hopelessly confused and frightened. But that made no difference to the girl, who poured a ceaseless fire of questions upon him, until she had laid his whole life bare. She even made him tell about Manning, the stockbroker, and how the family had lost its money in the collapse of Glass Bottle Securities. And then her cousin put in a word about his adventure with “Old Stew,” and Samuel had to tell that all over again, and to set forth his sociological convictions--Miss Wygant and her cousin meantime exchanging glances of wonder and amusement.