Meanwhile, Nan had seated herself at the pantry window and was ostentatiously hemming towels in apparent oblivion of suitor No. 2. Nevertheless, when Bryan came up she greeted him with an unusually sweet smile and at once plunged into an animated conversation. Bryan had not come to ask her to go to the picnic--business prevented him from going. But he meant to find out if she were going with John Osborne. As Nan was serenely impervious to all hints, he was finally forced to ask her bluntly if she was going to the picnic. Well, yes, she expected to. Oh! Might he ask with whom? Nan didn't know that it was a question of public interest at all. "It isn't with that Osborne fellow, is it?" demanded Bryan incautiously. Nan tossed her head. "Well, why not?" she asked. "Look here, Nan," said Lee angrily, "if you're going to the picnic with John Osborne I'm surprised at you. What do you mean by encouraging him so? He's as poor as Job's turkey. I suppose you've heard that I've been compelled to foreclose the mortgage on his farm." Nan kept her temper sweetly--a dangerous sign, had Bryan but known it. "Yes; he was telling me so this morning," she answered slowly. "Oh, was he? I suppose he gave me my character?" "No; he didn't say very much about it at all. He said of course you were within your rights. But do you really mean to do it, Bryan?" "Of course I do," said Bryan promptly. "I can't wait any longer for my money, and I'd never get it if I did. Osborne can't even pay the interest." "It isn't because he hasn't worked hard enough, then," said Nan. "He has just slaved on that place ever since he grew up." "Well, yes, he has worked hard in a way. But he's kind of shiftless, for all that--no manager, as you might say. Some folks would have been clear by now, but Osborne is one of those men that are bound to get behind. He hasn't got any business faculty." "He isn't shiftless," said Nan quickly, "and it isn't his fault if he has got behind. It's all because of his care for his aunt. He has had to spend more on her doctor's bills than would have raised the mortgage. And now that she is dead and he might have a chance to pull up, you go and foreclose." "A man must look out for Number One," said Bryan easily, admiring Nan's downcast eyes and rosy cheeks. "I haven't any spite against Osborne, but business is business, you know." Nan opened her lips to say something but, remembering Osborne's parting injunction, she shut them again. She shot a scornful glance at Lee as he stood with his arms folded on the sill beside her. Bryan lingered, talking small talk, until Nan announced that she must see about getting tea. "And you won't tell me who is going to take you to the picnic?" he coaxed. "Oh, it's Ned Bennett," said Nan indifferently.