The girl made no protest; but though she saw the admiration in the man's dark eyes as she covertly looked up, it would have pleased her better had he been a trifle more clumsy. His words and glances were usually bold enough, but, as he clasped the little brooch on, his fingers were almost irritatingly deft and steady. Men, she knew, did not make fools of themselves from a purely artistic appreciation of feminine comeliness. "Now," she said, slipping away from him with a blush, "I wonder what you expect for this." Clavering's eyebrows went up and there was a faint assumption of haughtiness in his face, which became it. "Only the pleasure of seeing it where it is. It's a gift," he said. "Well," said the girl, "that was very kind of you; but you're quite sure you never gave Miss Torrance anything of this kind?" "No. I think I told you so." The maid was not convinced. "But," she said, looking at him sideways, "I thought you did. She has a little gold chain, very thin, and not like the things they make now--and just lately she is always wearing it." "I never saw it." The girl smiled significantly. "I guess that's not astonishing. She wears it low down on her neck--and the curious thing is that it lay by and she never looked at it for ever so long." Clavering felt that the dollars the trinket had cost him had not been wasted; but though he concealed his disgust tolerably well, the maid noticed it. She had, however, vague ambitions, and a scarcely warranted conviction that, given a fair field, she could prove herself a match for her mistress. "Then, if it wasn't you, it must have been the other man," she said. "The other man?" "Yes," with a laugh. "The one I took the wallet with the dollars to." Clavering hoped he had not betrayed his astonishment; but she had seen the momentary flash in his eyes and the involuntary closing of his hand. "Now," he said firmly, "that can't be quite straight, and one should be very careful about saying that kind of thing." The girl looked at him steadily. "Still, I took a wallet with dollar bills in it to Mr. Grant--at night. I met him on the bluff, and Miss Torrance sent them him." It was possible that Clavering would have heard more had he followed the line of conduct he had adopted at first; but he stood thoughtfully silent instead, which did not by any means please his companion as well. He had a vague notion that this was a mistake; but the anger he did not show was too strong for him. Then, he fancied he heard a footstep on the stairway, and laughed in a somewhat strained fashion. "Well, we needn't worry about that; and I guess if I stay here any longer, Mr. Torrance will be wondering where I have gone," he said.