“I’m calling the police.”

The victor looked flabbergasted, but moved swiftly, reached her side, gently but firmly wrested the telephone from her, and put it down as she heard the operator answer. He kept a hand on her wrist as he looked upon her, shaking his head emphatically. ^^

“We don’t want to call the cops for a little private fight, he declared,

“I thought he was going to kill you!”

“Sure, and for a minute I did, too,” said the other, “but he thought better of it, and that gave me time to try to kill him.” He let her go, and smiled down at her; he had eyes which crinkled at the comers, and made him look perhaps nearer thirty-five than twenty-five, and his smile was most attractive. “But the fight’s finished now. I’m sorry you saw it.”

“Why did you spill the water over him ?”

“Now, ma’am, don’t blame me for that,” the tall American protested; “accidents will happen, even to a Texan in England. What was his final offer for the farm?”

Gillian didn’t answer.

“Did I hear him say twelve thousand ?”

“If you knew, why trouble to ask me?” Gillian felt annoyed, exasperated, and even foolish because she had been so near absolute collapse. Her legs felt weak again, and she longed to sit down. She thought of Alan for the first time since that whirlwind fight; Alan was still absent, and the voice of the man on the telephone seemed very close to her ears again. “. . . or he might get hurt.” She remembered everything more vividly, including the warning that she must tell no one that Alan was missing.

“If he offered twelve thousand pounds, or close on thirty-five thousand dollars, he must want that farm building mighty bad,” observed the man who claimed to come from Texas.

Gillian backed to a chair and sat down.

“Apparently he isn’t the only one.”

“No, ma’am, there are the two of us,” the coppery-haired young man agreed, and gave his most winning smile. “Well, you’re a business woman, and you won’t listen to a lower offer, I guess. I’ll go to twelve thousand five hundred pounds, but you’ll have to wait some weeks for your money, I could give you one thousand pounds as a down payment, and the balance “