"Nothing. Only a friend. Oh, of course, you can't understand, but a girl
in America can be quite fond of a man without falling in love with him.
Bernard Appleby never tried even the mildest flirtation with me, and
he'd have been sorry if he had. He's nice, and makes one trust him, but
he's 'way behind the man I'm going to marry."
Her tone carried conviction with it, and Violet made a little gesture.
"Yes," she said slowly, "it is not astonishing that you believe in him."
Then Nettie yielded to impulse, and made a venture "There was nothing
more," she said reflectively. "If I had thrown myself and my money at
his feet he wouldn't have had me. I think, though he never told me,
there was somebody in England he would always remember."
The big gray eyes were perfectly steady, but a faint trace of color
showed in Violet's cheek.
"Well," she said slowly, "Tony is going out to find him."
Nettie felt a little thrill at what she had noticed, but she rose and,
somewhat to her companion's astonishment, kissed her.
"I'll feel happier now I know you have forgiven me," she said.
She had gone in another minute, and Violet Wayne lay still with half-
closed eyes and a weary face, while Tony drove home up the Northrop
valley with a faint hope in his heart.
It was about the same hour next day when he laid several papers down on
the table at which he sat in lawyer Craythorne's office with a little
smile of content.
"It's all straight now and I'm glad," he said. "I can make Dane Cop over
to Appleby because it never was an integral part of the estate, and it
is worth a good deal to anybody now. It should, as you know, have been
his in any case, while in the event of my dying unmarried he will get a
share of the other property. I would have made it more only that Esmond
Palliser has nearer claim."
Craythorne folded the will just signed. "It is wise to take precautions,
but one would certainly expect you to marry," he said.
Tony rose, and smiled curiously as he straightened himself. "Well," he
said, "one can never be sure of anything--and, you see, I am going to
Cuba to-morrow. Travelling there must be a trifle risky just now. Still,
I fancy I shall find Appleby."