That was the only flaw in his happiness as he stopped the car at the
door of the shack, for by now he had succeeded at last in thrusting the
image of Ruth from his mind.
There was a light in the ground-floor window. He raised his head and
shouted:
'Steve!'
The door opened.
'Hello, Kirk. That you? Come along in. You're just in time for the main
performance.'
He caught sight of Mamie standing beside Kirk.
'Who's that?' he cried. For a moment he thought it was Ruth, and his
honest heart leaped at the thought that his scheme had worked already
and brought Kirk and her together again.
'It's me, Steve,' said Mamie in her small voice. And Steve, as he heard
it, was seized with the first real qualm he had had since he had
embarked upon his great adventure.
As Kirk had endeavoured temporarily to forget Ruth, so had he tried not
to think of Mamie. It was the only thing he was ashamed of in the whole
affair, the shock he must have given her.
'Hello, Mamie,' he said sheepishly, and paused. Words did not come
readily to him.
Mamie entered the house without speaking. It seemed to Steve that
invective would have been better than this ominous silence. He looked
ruefully at her retreating back and turned to greet Kirk.
'You're mighty late,' he said.
'I only got your telegram toward the end of the afternoon. I had been
away all day. I came here as fast as I could hit it up directly I read
it. We had a blow-out, and that delayed us.'
Steve ventured a question.
'Say, Kirk, why 'us,' while we're talking of it? How does Mamie come to
be here?'
'She insisted on coming. It seems that everybody in the house was away
to-day, so she tells me, so she came round to me with your note.'
'I guess this has put me in pretty bad with Mamie,' observed Steve
regretfully. 'Has she been knocking me on the trip?'
'Not a word.'
Steve brightened, but became subdued again next moment.
'I guess she's just saving it,' he said resignedly.
'Steve, what made you do it?'
'Oh, I reckoned you could do with having the kid to yourself for a
spell,' said Steve awkwardly.
'You're all right, Steve. But how did you manage it? I shouldn't have
thought it possible.'
'Oh, it wasn't so hard, that part. I just hid in the house, and, but
say, let's forget it; it makes me feel kind of mean, somehow. It seems
to me I may have lost Mamie her job. It's mighty hard to do the right
thing by every one in this world, ain't it? Come along in and see the
kid. He's great. Are you feeling ready for supper? Him and me was just
going to start.'
