"Did the Chamber of Commerce appoint you a committee to hope that I would impose on my relatives longer? Or was it resoluted at a mass meeting?" she asked with her Mona Lisa smile.
He laughed. "Well, no! I'm a self-appointed committee voicing a personal desire that has universal application. But if it would have more weight with you I'll have the Chamber take it up and get myself an accredited representative.""So kind of you. But do you think the committee could do itself justice on the street curb?"She had among other sensuous charms a voice attuned to convey slightest shades of meaning. James caught her half-shuttered smoldering glance and divined her a woman subtle and complex, capable of playing the world-old game of the ***es with unusual dexterity. The hint of challenging mystery in the tawny depths of the mocking eyes fired his imagination. She was to him a new find in women, one altogether different from those he had known. He had a curiosity to meet at close range this cosmopolitan heiress of such cultivation as Joe Powers' millions could purchase.
What Verden said of her he knew: that she was too free, too scornful, too independent of conventions. All the tabby cats whispered it to each other with lifted eyebrows that suggested volumes, the while they courted her eager and unashamed. But he had a feeling that perhaps Verden was not competent to judge. The standards of this town and of New York were probably vastly different. James welcomed the chance to enlarge his social experience. Promptly he accepted the lead offered.
"I'm sure it can't. To present the evidence cogently will take at least two hours. May I make the argument this evening, if it please the court, during a call?""But I understood you were too busy saving the state--from my father and my uncle by the way--to have time for a mere woman," she parried.
The good humor of her irony flattered him because it implied that she offered him a chance to cultivate her--he was not at all sure how much or how little that might mean--regardless of his political affiliations. Not many women were logical enough to accept so impersonally hisopposition to the candidacy of an uncle and the plans of a father. "I AM busy," he admitted, "but I need a few hours' relaxation. It will help me to work more effectively to-morrow--against your father and your uncle," he came back with a smile that included them both.
Alice Frome took up the challenge gaily. "We're going to beat you. Father will be elected.""Then I'll be the first to congratulate him," he promised. Turning to Mrs. Van Tyle, "Shall we say this evening?" he added.
"You're not afraid to venture yourself into the hands of the enemy," drawled that young woman, her indolent eyes daring him.
Again he studiously included them both in his answer. "I'm afraid all right, but I'm not going to let you know it. Did I hear you set a time?""If you are really willing to take the risk we shall be glad to see you this afternoon."James observed that Alice Frome did not second her cousin's invitation. He temporized.
"Oh, this afternoon! I have an engagement, but I am tempted to forget it in remembering a subsequent one."His smiling gaze passed to Alice and gave her another chance. Still she did not speak.
"The way to treat a temptation is to yield to it," the older cousin sparkled.
"In order to be done with it, I suppose. Very well. I yield to mine. This afternoon I will have the pleasure of calling at The Brakes."Alice nodded a curt good-bye, but her cousin offered him a beautifully gloved hand to shake. A delightful tingle of triumph warmed him. The daughter of Big Joe Powers, the grim gray pirate who worked the levers of the great Transcontinental Railroad system, had taken pains to be nice to him. The only fly in the ointment of his self-satisfaction had been Alice Frome's reticence.
Why had she not shown any desire to have him call? He could guess at one reason. The campaign for the legislature and the subsequent battle for the senatorship had been bitter. Charges of corruption had been flung broadcast. A dozen detectives had been hired to get evidence on one sideor the other. If he were seen going to The Brakes just now fifty rumors might be flying inside of the hour.
His guess was a good one. Alice drove the car forward several blocks without speaking, Valencia Van Tyle watching with good- humored contempt the little frown that rested on her cousin's candid face.
"I perceive that my uncompromising cousin is moved to protest," she suggested placidly.
"You ought not to have asked him, Val. It isn't fair to him or to father," answered Alice promptly. "People will talk. They will say father is trying to influence him unfairly. I wish you hadn't asked him till this fight is over.""My dear Nora, does it matter in the least what people say?" yawned Valencia behind her hand.
"Not to you because you consider yourself above criticism. But it matters to me that two honest men should be brought into unjust obloquy without cause.""My dear Hothead, they are big enough to look out for themselves." "Nobody is big enough to kill slander.""Nonsense, child. You make a mountain out of a mole hill. People WILL gossip. It really isn't of the least importance what they gabble about.""Especially when you want to amuse yourself by ****** a fool of Mr. Farnum," retorted the downright Alice with a touch of asperity.
Valencia already half regretted having asked him. The chances were that he would prove a bore. But she did not choose to say so. "If I'm treading on your preserves, dear," she ventured sweetly.
