Eve checked his explanation quickly. She didn't want any. All she wanted was for them to go before Will returned.
"Yes; I know. And, besides, the ranch is a long way. Yet--why did you come to-night?" She pressed her hand to her forehead lest the fear in her eyes should betray her.
The pause which followed was awkward. Somehow neither of the men was prepared for it. Neither had thought that such a question would be put to him. Peter looked at Jim, who turned deliberately away. He was struggling vainly for a way of approaching all he had to say to this girl, and now that he was face to face with it he realized the impossibility of his position. Finally it was the girl herself who helped him out.
"It's very, very kind of you, anyway," she said, in a low voice. "It's good to think that I've got friends thinking about me----"
"That's just it, Eve," cried Jim, seizing his opportunity with a clumsy rush. "I've been thinking a heap--lately. You see--Will Henderson's not working and--and--folks say----"
"And gossip says we're 'hard up,'" Eve added bitterly. She knew well enough the talk that was rife. "So you've come in to see--if it is true." She again pressed a hand to her forehead. This time it was the pain of her head which had become excruciating.
Jim nodded, and Peter's smiling eyes continued to watch him.
"But it wasn't exactly that," the former went on in his straightforward way. "Yet it's so blazing hard to put it so you can understand. You see, I've been doing very well, and--you know I've got a big bunch of cattle running up in the foot-hills now--I thought, maybe, seeing Will isn't working, money might be a bit tight with you. You see, we're folks of the world, and there's no fool sentiment about us in these things; I mean no ridiculous pride. Now, if I was down, and you'd offered to help me out, I'd just take it as a real friendly act. And I just thought--maybe----"
How much longer he would have continued to flounder on it was impossible to tell, but Peter saw his trouble and cut him short.
"You see, Eve," he said, "Jim wants to help you out. Some folks have got busy, and he's heard that you're hard pushed for ready dollars. That's how it is."
Jim frowned at his bluntness, but was in reality immensely relieved. Eve had been listening with closed eyes, but now opened them, and they were full of a friendliness.