"So you heard what Dave told me? I thought you did," he said.
"Yes," assented Alison. "The question is whether Nevis heard him too."
"He certainly heard part, but there are one or two things he can't very well know. For instance, it was Slaney's intention to ride in to the railroad as soon as he'd had supper."
"Forrester's place must be at least two leagues from here," commented Alison.
"About that," Thorne agreed with a smile. "It's far enough to make it exceedingly probable that anybody who started from this settlement when he'd had his supper would only get there after Winthrop had gone."
"But Nevis might send a messenger immediately."
"It strikes me as very unlikely that he'd get any one to go. There are only one or two horses in the place, and I've been round to see the men to whom they belong."
"He won't until after supper. Nevis is not the man to deny himself unless it seems absolutely necessary, and he'll naturally assume that Slaney is spending the night with Forrester. But there's a certain probability of his setting out immediately after the meal."
"I'm very much afraid I can't do anything. You see, the--arrangement--with Corporal Slaney stands in the way."
"You never thought that Winthrop would come back here when you made it," Alison suggested.
"No," acknowledged Thorne; "the point is that the corporal didn't either."
Alison appeared to reflect, and he watched her with quiet amusement.
"I've changed my mind about Winthrop," she told him at length. "I want him to get away."
Thorne made no answer, and she continued:
"Lucy Calvert is, no doubt, a good deal more anxious than I am that he should escape, and it would be only natural if you wished to earn her thanks. I think she could be very nice, and her eyes are wonderfully blue."
Thorne met her inquiring gaze with one of contemplative scrutiny.
"Yours," he said, "are usually delightfully still and gray--like a pool on a moorland stream at home under a faintly clouded sky; but now and then they gleam with a golden light as the water does when the sun comes through."
His companion hastily abandoned that line of attack. His defense was too vigorous for her to follow it up.
"You feel that your hands are absolutely tied by the hint you gave Slaney that afternoon?" she asked.