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Madeline saw the man she remembered, but with a singularly different aspect. His skin was brown; his eyes were piercing and dark and steady; he carried himself erect; he seemed preoccupied, and there was not a trace of embarrassment in his manner. "Wal, Gene, I'm sure glad to see you," Stillwell was saying. "Where do you hail from?" "Guadaloupe Canyon," replied the cowboy. Stillwell whistled.
And as he put his arm around her he turned toward a massive man whose broad, craggy face began to ripple and wrinkle. "I want to introduce my friend Stillwell to you. Bill, this is my sister, the sister I've so often told you about Majesty." "Wal, wal, Al, this's the proudest meetin' of my life," replied Stillwell, in a booming voice. He extended a huge hand.
"Blackwater is good enough for me," said Patricia, a certain stubborn hostility in her tone. "I have always thought the Blackwater High School an excellent institution," said her mother quickly, "especially for boys." "Yes, indeed, for boys," replied Stillwell, "but for young ladies well, there is something in an English school, you know, that you can't get in any High School here in Canada."
Stillwell promised to give Hollends a chance, said he would consult with his foreman, and let the ladies know what could be done. Joe Hollends did not receive the news of his luck with the enthusiasm that might have been expected.
"Do you know, Patricia," and Rupert Stillwell looked across the dinner table teasingly into Patricia's face, "your Captain Jack was rather mixed up in a nice little row to-day?" "I heard all about it, Rupert, and Captain Jack did just what I would have expected him to do." Patricia's unsmiling eyes looked steadily into the young man's smiling face. "Rescued a charming young damsel, eh?
Onct, just onct, will square it, an' then we can resoome our work." "Stillwell, listen," said Madeline, brightly. "We'll arrange a match game, a foursome, between Monty and Link and your best picked team. Castleton, who is an expert golfer, will umpire. My sister, and friends, and I will take turns as caddies for your team. That will be fair, considering yours is the weaker.
"If you are as glad as your news has made me if you really think I merit such a reward you may kiss me outright." With a bashful wonder, but with right hearty will, Danny Mains availed himself of this gracious privilege. Stillwell snorted. The signs of his phenomenal smile were manifest, otherwise Madeline would have thought that snort an indication of furious disapproval.
His face set into the old cragginess and the red slowly thickened into black. Stillwell went out and closed the door behind him. Then there was a blank silence. The enjoyment of the moment had been rudely disrupted. Madeline glanced down the lines of brown faces to see the pleasure fade into the old familiar hardness. "What's wrong?" asked Alfred, rather stupidly.
At this juncture Madeline's brother joined the group, evidently in search of Stillwell. "Bill, Nels just rode in," he said. "Good! We sure need him. Any news of Danny Mains?" "No. Nels said he lost the trail when he got on hard ground." "Wal, wal. Say, Al, your sister is sure takin' to the round-up. An' the boys are gettin' wise. See thet sun-of-a-gun Ambrose cuttin' capers all around.
Stillwell, who had ceaselessly reproached himself for riding away the morning Madeline was captured, grew more like an anxious parent than a faithful superintendent. He was never at ease regarding her unless he was near the ranch or had left Stewart there, or else Nels and Nick Steele. Naturally, he trusted more to Stewart than to any one else.
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