The Lure of the North | Page 2

her best to enlighten him, hoped he would now see where his advantage lay.
"You are not very talkative, Jim," she said.
Thirlwell looked up with an apologetic smile, but his eyes rested on the girl by Mrs. Allott's side. Evelyn Grant was young and attractive, but there was something tame about her beauty that harmonized with her character. Thirlwell had not always recognized this; indeed, when they were younger, he had indulged a romantic tenderness for the girl. This, however, was long since, and the renewal of their friendship in Canada left him cold. Evelyn was gracious, and he sometimes thought she had not forgotten his youthful admiration, but she did not feel things much, and he suspected that she had acquiesced in Mrs. Allott's rather obvious plot because she was too indolent to object. For all that, he imagined that if he took a bold line she would not repulse him, and by comparison with his poverty Evelyn was rich. Then he banished the thought with an unconscious frown.
"Oh, well, I suppose it's our last evening together, and one feels melancholy about that," he said.
"But I thought you were coming to New York with us," Mrs. Allott objected.
Evelyn was talking animatedly to a young American, but looked round with languid carelessness.
"Are you really not coming, Jim?" she asked.
Then, without waiting for Thirlwell's answer, she resumed her talk, and Mrs. Allott wondered whether the girl had not overdone her part. After all, she must have known why she had been brought.
"I think not," said Thirlwell. "Very sorry, of course, but there's only a week of my holiday left and I have some business in South Ontario. Then I must go back to the bush."
"That's ridiculous, Jim," Mrs. Allott rejoined. "You know you needn't go back to the bush at all. Besides, we hoped you had decided to come to England." She paused and touched Evelyn. "Do you hear what he says? Can't you persuade him to be sensible?"
Evelyn turned and looked at Thirlwell with a careless smile. She was very composed, but Mrs. Allott thought she noted a trace of heightened color.
"Oh, no; it would be useless for me to try. Nobody could persuade Jim to do what he does not want."
"Aren't you taking something for granted?" asked Allott, who sat with the others, but had been silent. "Jim hasn't admitted that he doesn't want to come."
The girl gave Thirlwell a tranquil glance in which there was a hint of mockery.
"He has only a week left, and I imagine knows better than we do what will please him best," she replied, and turned to her companion.
"What have you to say to that?" Allott asked Thirlwell, with a twinkle.
"It looks as if Evelyn knew my character--I suppose I am obstinate. But I don't think she has stated the case correctly. It isn't that I don't want to come. Unfortunately, I can't."
The other guests were leaving the tables and Mrs. Allott, getting up, gave her husband a meaning glance.
"Then I must let Stephen talk to you. You may listen to his arguments; I have exhausted mine."
"You could not expect me to succeed where you have failed," Allott remarked, and touched Thirlwell as Mrs. Allott and Evelyn went away. "Shall we go upstairs for a smoke?"
A lift took them up, and Allott lighted a cigarette when they entered an unoccupied room. The evening was hot, and Thirlwell sat on the ledge of the open window and looked out upon the river across the climbing town. Church spires, the steep roofs of old houses, and the flat tops of modern blocks, rose in the moonlight through a thin gray haze of smoke. Lower down, a track of glittering silver ran across to the shadowy Levis ridge, along the crest of which were scattered twinkling lights. Presently Allott, who was well preserved and rather fat, turned to Thirlwell.
"I hope you won't be rash, Jim, and throw away the best chance you may ever get."
"You mean Sir James's offer of the post with the big engineering firm?"
"I mean that and other things," said Allott dryly. "Perhaps I have spoken plainly enough; you are not a fool!"
"Thanks! I don't claim much wisdom and I am sometimes rash. But perhaps we had better stick to Sir James's offer. Why does he make it now, after standing off when I needed help some years since?"
"We'll take the offer first," Allott agreed. "Sir James had not been knighted and pulled off the big business combine then. He hadn't as much influence, and perhaps wanted to see what you could do. I expect he was surprised when you got and kept the mining job in Canada. Anyhow, you're his namesake and nearest relative. My wife, you know, comes next."
"He left my father alone in his trouble," said Thirlwell grimly. "I wonder why