It was she who answered the agent, but she spoke to Dirk.
"Very well; I suppose you are quite as willing to leave here to-night as
at any time? If I were you, I would leave immediately. Let your sister
come home with me for the night, and until you have time to make other
arrangements."
Mr. Roberts had been summoned to a bank meeting, and had sent Ried to
attend his wife. He came forward now, from the carriage where he had
stood waiting, and laid a hand on Dirk's arm.
"And you come home with me to-night, Colson," he said in a cordial tone,
such as he might have used with any young friend; "then we shall have a
chance to talk things over and make plans."
"That is nice," Mrs. Roberts said, quickly, rejoicing in her heart over
Ried's promptness to act. "Then you can get away from this wretched
place at once. Mr. Roberts will see to the removal of your goods,
whatever you need, and the agent can call on him in the morning. That
will be the simplest way to settle it all. May she go with me?"
A slight, caressing movement of a gloved hand on the girl's arm
accompanied this question.
Mart was silent with bewilderment. When had Dirk ever before been asked
what _she_ might do, or might not do? At first she was half
inclined to scorn the suggestion.
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