“Wayne,” she cried, “what is there about that man? He’s an evil being of some kind. That first time I saw him at Fanny’s he affected me just as he did to-night. I have a feeling of suffocation, of smothering, when he looks at me and those little eyes of his dance like devils.” “Oh, now, Addie, that’s coming pretty rough! Walsh is a bully old fellow. He can’t help not being handsome, but he’s the real thing; there’s no punk in Tom Walsh. He’s a rare fellow and he’s been mighty kind to me. You’d better forget all this--it’s all right. That girl can be relied on--she isn’t going to blab--why should she? And Walsh and Wingfield are not out on snowy nights looking for a chance to injure anybody. Don’t work yourself into a morbid frame of mind about these things; we all had a good time and let it go at that. Why, old Tom Walsh made a point of talking to you; he isn’t the fellow to bore himself, I can tell you!” “Oh, Walsh!” she wailed. “That hideous monster! What do you think he has asked me to do!” “Well, not to elope with him; I’ll wager he didn’t propose that.” “He asked me to go driving with him! He said there would be such sleighing to-morrow as we rarely see any more. He said he would show me the hills and that I’d see we had winter scenery here just as good as Vermont.” She offered this, it seemed, as a last proof of Walsh’s depravity, and having launched it in half-sobs she waited for Wayne to mitigate its evil if he could. The laughter with which he greeted her announcement added an unneeded straw to her burden and she wept bitterly, bending her head upon the mantel-shelf. She was an effective study in grief, but Wayne’s humour had been too sincerely touched to leave any room for pity. “Oh, Addie! Walsh asked you to drive with him! He asked you--he asked you----” He exploded again, but when, tearful and scornful, she turned toward him, he subsided to demand: “Well, what did you say?” “Oh, I said I’d go! I was afraid to say no!” CHAPTER XXI SOUNDINGS IN DEEP WATERS