While she looked around, he was thinking about her. She was provocatively pretty; a fearless, passionate creature, addicted to occasional reckless outbreaks, but nevertheless endowed with a vein of cold and calculating sense. What was as much to the point, she was wealthy, and people were becoming more tolerant toward her; but in the meanwhile he wondered what she wanted. "I came about Jim," she said at length. "Well?" The man's expression, which suddenly changed, was not encouraging and she hesitated. "You know what he's doing. I've come to ask a favor." He avoided the issue. "It's nothing alarming; I don't suppose he's very different from most lads of his age. Perhaps it would be better to let him have his head." "No," she replied decidedly. "The pace is too hot; I can't hold him. He'll come to grief badly if he's not pulled up. You know that as well as I do!" Her anger became her, bringing a fine glow to her cheeks and a hint of half-imperious dignity into her pose. It had an effect on him, but he felt somewhat ashamed of himself. "Well," he asked in a quiet voice, "what's the favor?" "Shouldn't a sportsman and a man of your kind grant it unconditionally beforehand? Must you be sure you won't get hurt when you make a venture?" "You'd risk it," he answered, bowing. "You're admirable, Bella. Still, you see, I'm either more cautious or less courageous." She was badly disappointed. She knew that a good deal depended on his answer to her request, and shrank from making it, because it would prove the strength or weakness of her hold on him. The man attracted her, and she had somewhat openly attempted to capture him. She longed for the position he could give her; she would have married him for that and his house, but she was willing to risk her success for her brother's welfare. "I want you to tell Batley that he must keep his hands off of Jim," she said. He started at this. "He can't do the lad much harm. Aren't you attaching a little too much importance to the matter?" "No; not in the least," she answered vehemently. "I've told you so already. But can't you keep to the point? My brother's being ruined in several ways besides the debts he's heaping up; and I've humbled myself to beg your help." "Was it so very hard?" he asked, and his voice grew soft and caressing. She was shaken to the verge of yielding. The man was handsome, cultivated, distinguished, she thought. Whether she actually loved him, she did not know, but he could gratify her ambitions and she was strongly drawn to him. He had given her a lead, an opening for a few telling words that might go far toward the accomplishment of her wishes; but, tempted as she was, she would not utter them. She was loyal to the headstrong lad; Jim stood first with her. "That is beside the point," she said with a becoming air of pride. "I expected you would be willing to do whatever you could. To be refused what I plead for is new to me."