rched her face for signs of guile, but her eyes were unclouded, and
her manner indicated only a friendly concern for his interests.

It was a very happy party that night. Both girls were merry, and Nolan
was really more solicitously attentive to Sally than was quite necessary
even in the interests of a campaign directed against her. When at a late
hour, they trooped out to the car, it was he who helped her carefully
into the machine, though, with seeming reluctance, he permitted Timothy
to sit with her while he joined Eveley in the front seat.

"Timmy is good-looking, don't you think?" Sally asked that night, as they
were preparing for bed.

"Yes, if he did not work so hard. Young men should not kill themselves
with labor."

"Your Nolan is handsomer, perhaps," said Sally pleasantly.

The next day Timothy did meet them for luncheon, after keeping them
waiting for twenty minutes, and later they went for a fast ride out Point
Loma. But that night he did not see them at all, though he told Eveley he
thought she was rather rubbing it in, cheating him out of so many
pleasant parties and good times.

"I may not want to marry her, but it is good sport chasing around," he
protested.

But Eveley was very stern. He had put himself in her hands, and he must
obey without argument, and that settled it. And when he suggested that it
would look better if he and Sally had one party by themselves without
Nolan tagging at their heels, she frowned it down.

"One private party can spoil a whole week of hard work," she decreed.

So the week passed. Once even Eveley pretended business, and Sally and
Nolan had luncheon together, and a drive later in Eveley's car. But
Timothy put a stop to that.

"She is my fiancee. And I may have to marry her after all. And if I do,
hanged if I want everybody in town thinking she was Nolan's sweetheart to
begin with."

So Eveley waived that part of her plan, and the parties were always of
three, and sometimes, but infrequently, of four. That Sally accepted
their arrangements so easily, and took so much pleasure in their
entertainment, argued well. One night she said:

"Of course, men have to work, but I shouldn't like my husband to dig away
like a servant, should you, Eveley?"

And Eveley felt the time was ripe. The next day she told Timothy he might
take Sally out alone in the car for a drive, and ask her if they should
not be married right away. Eveley was willing to wager that she would
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