Tree tops brushed under them as they
went and far out on either side were wide-reaching lagoons that had
been high ground three days ago.
Alexander herself was standing a little apart and Brent was of a mind
to draw her into conversation but as he approached her he decided that
this was not the time to improve acquaintanceship. Her air of
detachment amounted to aloofness and Brent remembered that she had,
weighing upon her, the anxiety of her father's condition.
Jase Mallows, however, just then relieved from duty at the steering
sweep, was less subtle of deduction. With his eye on Alexander, whose
back was turned to him, he jauntily straightened his shoulders and gave
his long mustache a twirl. Brent thought of the turkey-gobbler's strut
as, with amused eyes, he watched the backwoods lady-killer. Jase had
heard many of the old wives' tales of Alexander and thought of her as
one, ambitious of amorous conquest, may think of a famous and much
discussed beauty. Had she been another woman, Jase would before now
have gone over to the house on a "sparking" expedition, but Old Man
McGivins had discouraged such aspirations--and his daughter had been no
less definite of attitude.
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