She knew that her father and mother, and, even more strictly, her
brother, would close their doors on a man whose enemies followed him over
seas and lay in wait for him in a peaceful park; but here she tested him.
A man of breeding would not ask protection of a woman on whom he had no
claim, and it was certainly not for her to establish an understanding
with him in so strange and grave a matter.
"It must be fun having a ranch with cattle on a thousand hills. I always
wished my father would go in for a western place, but he can't travel so
far from home. Our ranch is in Virginia."
"You have a Virginia farm? That is very interesting."
"Yes; at Storm Springs. It's really beautiful down there," she said
simply.
It was on his tongue to tell her that he, too, owned a bit of Virginia
soil, but he had just established himself as a Montana ranchman, and it
seemed best not to multiply his places of residence. He had, moreover,
forgotten the name of the county in which his preserve lay. He said, with
truth:
"I know nothing of Virginia or the South; but I have viewed the landscape
from Arlington and some day I hope to go adventuring in the Virginia
hills.
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