She drove slowly, for Garry began asking her for full particulars about Dorothy and the family. Tavia actually did not know anything about the proposed purchase of the Knapp ranch by her chum’s father. Dorothy had said not a word to her about Garry since their final talk some weeks before. At a place in the woods where there was not a house in sight, Tavia even stopped the car the better to give her full attention to Mr. Garry Knapp, and to talk him out of certain objections that seemed to trouble his mind. It was just here that Nat White, on a sputtering motorcycle he sometimes rode, passed the couple in the automobile. He saw Tavia talking earnestly to a fine-looking, broad-shouldered young man wearing a hat of Western style. She had an eager hand upon his shoulder and the stranger was evidently much interested in what the girl said. Nat did not even slow down. It is doubtful if Tavia noticed him at all. Nat went straight home, changed his clothes, flung a few things into a traveling bag, and announced to his mother that he was off for Boston to pay some long-promised visits to friends there and in Cambridge. Nat, with his usual impulsiveness, had jumped at a conclusion which, like most snap judgments, was quite incorrect. He rode to the railroad station by another way and so did not meet Tavia and Garry Knapp as they approached The Cedars. CHAPTER XXIV THIN ICE Dorothy spied the Fire Bird just as it turned in at the entrance gate. And she identified the person sitting beside her chum, too. Therefore, she had a few minutes in which to prepare for her meeting with Garry Knapp. She was on the porch when the car stopped, and her welcome to the young Westerner possessed just the degree of cordiality that it should. Neither by word nor look did she betray the fact that her heart’s action was accelerated, or that she felt a thrill of joy to think that the first of her moves in this intricate game had been successful. “Of course, it would be Tavia’s good fortune to pick you up at the station,” she said, while Garry held her hand just a moment longer than was really necessary for politeness’ sake. “Had you telegraphed us——” “I hadn’t a thought that I was going to run up against Miss Travers or you, Miss Dale,” he said. “Oh, then, this is a business visit?” and she laughed. “Entirely? You only wish to see Major Dale?” “Well—now—that’s unfair,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “But I told Miss Travers she might drive me to the hotel.” “Oh, this will be your hotel while you remain, of course. Father would not hear of anything else I am sure.” “I can thank you, then, Miss Dale,” he said quietly and with a sudden serious mien, “for the chance to sell my ranch at a better price than those sharks were ready to give?”