Thirlwell stopped him.  “Why is Sir James anxious to help me?”

“We can only guess.  Perhaps he feels you have a claim and he has neglected you.  Then he may think you will do him credit and realize the ambitions he’s getting too old to carry out.  He has noted that you have inherited your father’s character, and I’ve heard him remark that while Tom Thirlwell had extravagant notions, he certainly had brains.  However, we were talking about Evelyn.”

Thirlwell, exercising some self-control, lighted a cigarette and gave Allott a steady look.

“Then we’ll finish the talk.  Evelyn is a charming girl; amiable, pretty, tranquil, but there’s no ground for believing she has contemplated marrying me.”

“Suppose we admit that’s possible?” said Allott, with a meaning smile.  “I imagine, because I know you both, that if you were firm enough, you could, so to speak, carry her away.  Since you own that she’s charming, why don’t you try?”

“If you are curious, you can take it that Sir James’s gratuitous approval is an obstacle.  I shall not marry to please him or let him plan my career.  I mean to stand on my own feet and not be ruled by a greedy old man’s caprices.  Now you understand this, we’ll say no more about the thing.”

Allott shrugged.  “Very well!  I’ve done my best, and since you mean to take your own line, wish you success.  Perhaps we had better go downstairs.”

Evelyn was talking to the young American when they crossed the big hall and she smiled as they passed, but an hour later Thirlwell saw her alone.  She beckoned him carelessly and indicated a place near her in a corner seat.

“So Allott has not persuaded you to come with us!” she remarked.

“No,” said Thirlwell.  “Very sorry, but there are matters I can’t neglect.”

“We shall miss you,” she said, with a side glance.  “I suppose you are not coming to England afterwards?”

“I’m afraid not,” Thirlwell answered.

Then, to his surprise, she gave him a rather curious smile.  “From the beginning I didn’t think you would come.”

“Ah!” said Thirlwell.  “Still I don’t see why—­”

“That doesn’t matter,” she answered calmly.  “After all, I dare say it’s better in many ways that you should stay in Canada, and I wish you luck.”  She paused a moment and resumed:  “I want you to feel that I do wish it.  But Mrs. Allott is waiting for me.  We shall, no doubt, see you before we start.”

She left him puzzled but relieved.  Next morning he stood on the platform of the Grand Trunk station, and Evelyn, leaning on the rails of a vestibule, smiled and waved her hand as the train rolled away.

CHAPTER II

STRANGE’S STORY

After Allott’s departure Thirlwell went to Montreal and spent two depressing days transacting some business for his employers.  Quebec was quiet and picturesque, and a cool, refreshing breeze blew up the river from the Laurentian wilds, but Montreal, shut in by the wooded mountain, sweltered in humid heat.  Then the streets were being torn up to lay electric mains, and sand and cement blew about from half-finished concrete buildings.  Thirlwell did not like large cities, and after the silence of the bush, the bustle of the traffic jarred.