He had, therefore, several sources of satisfaction in espousing the cause of Norrie Ford.  The amplitude of his legal knowledge would be to him as gay feathers to the cock; while the contemplation of the prize added to his self-approval in never doubting that it could be won.

* * * * *

It was early March when Ford sailed away, leaving his affairs in Conquest’s charge, at the latter’s own request.  He in his turn placed them in the hands of Kilcup and Warren, who made a specialty of that branch of the law.  The reward was immediate, in that frequent talks with Miriam became a matter of course.

His trained mind was prompt to seize the fact that these interviews took place on a basis different from that of their meetings in the past.  Where he had been seeking to gain an end he was now on probation.  He had been told—­or practically told—­that what he had been asking would be granted, as soon as certain conditions were fulfilled.  It became to him, therefore, a matter of honor, in some degree one of professional etiquette, to fulfil the conditions before referring to the reward.  Instead of a suitor pressing his suit, he became the man of business recounting the points scored, or still to be scored, in a common enterprise.  In keeping her informed of each new step that Kilcup and Warren were taking, he maintained an attitude of distant respect, of which she could have nothing to complain.

Expecting an equal reserve on her part, it was with some surprise that he saw her assume the initiative in cordiality.  He called it cordiality, because he dared not make it a stronger word.  Her manner went back to the spontaneous friendliness that had marked their intercourse before she began to see what he was aiming at, while into it she threw an infusion of something that had not hitherto been there.  When he came with the information that a fresh bit of evidence had been discovered, or a new light thrown on an old one, she listened with interest—­just the right kind of interest—­and made pretexts to detain him, sometimes with Wayne as a third, sometimes without, for the pleasure of his own company.  Now and then, as spring came on, they would all three, at her suggestion, cross the street, and stroll in the park together.  Leaving Wayne on some convenient seat, they would prolong their own walk, talking with the unguarded confidence of mutual trust.  It was she who furnished the topics—­books, music, politics, people, anything that chanced to be uppermost.  When he decided to purchase an automobile a whole new world of consultation was opened up.  They visited establishments together, and drove with Wayne into the country to test machines.  Returning Conquest would dine informally, in morning dress, with them; or else, from time to time he would invite them to a restaurant.  By-and-by he took to organizing little dinners at his own house, ostensibly to cheer up Wayne, but really to see Miriam at his table.