The telephone bell was heard, and shortly afterward, the maid came around to Polly's side and said:

"A Mr. Latimer on the wire, Miss Polly."

Eleanor was all interest at once: "Can it be Jim, or Tom, I wonder?"

Polly was excusing herself at the moment, but turned to add: "You know very well that Tom has his hands full at the mines."

Eleanor flushed, for she had almost given away a secret that Paul had told her in his last letter. Thus far she had kept quiet about the confidence.

Polly ran from the room, and Jack Baxter scowled at his plate. Mr. Fabian smiled at his face and tried to engage him in conversation. But Polly's continued absence annoyed the youth, so that he lost his appet.i.te, and, in fact, all interest in any subject started.

Polly skipped back after a time, her face wreathed in smiles. "You will never guess who I was talking to?"

Everyone but Jack pretended not to know, but he blurted out: "When I was out at the ranch, that Tom Latimer said something about coming East for the Winter months--as long as Alexander proposed to stay out there and take a hand in the work."

"Why, this is the first word you've said about it," said Polly, amazed.

"Had I known you were so deeply interested in the plans of young Latimer, I would have told you immediately," said Jack, with sarcasm born of jealousy in his voice.

Polly refused to answer him, and immediately asked Mrs. Fabian to excuse her from dinner as she wished to dress for the evening.

The rest of the family finished the meal with the uncomfortable sense of Jack's having lost caste in Polly's estimation. He felt it himself, and it certainly did not tend to make him more agreeable that evening.

As soon after dinner as could be politely managed, Jack spoke of a theatre engagement and excused himself. His hostesses felt easier when the door slammed upon him, for they dreaded having Tom announced while his rival was there, and then have the whole evening spoiled by both young men glowering at each other.

While Eleanor and Nancy ran upstairs to dress for the evening, the former whispered: "If Tom remains in New York all this winter, I bet he'll _get_ Polly before he goes back to the mines, or else he'll 'cook his goose'

for all time!"

Nancy laughed merrily, and said: "No goose will be cooked if Polly knows it! But I'll wager you a box of candy, Nolla, that Tom will _not_ get his girl before he goes back to the mines."

"All right, Nanc! That's a wager; a five-pound box of the best _bon bons_, that Tom and Polly will be engaged before the end of this winter season!"

CHAPTER XIII

TOM MEANS BUSINESS

Polly's friends had not completed their dressing when Tom was announced, but she was waiting in the cozy library; so Tom crossed the long formal parlor in a few strides, when he caught sight of her in the softly shaded light of the floor-lamp.

"Polly! Oh, but I'm glad to see you again!" breathed he as he caught both hands and devoured her smiles with his eyes.

"I should hope you would be glad! Isn't everyone I know glad to see me after they have been absent a long time?" laughed Polly, in a matter-of-fact tone.

But Tom glanced hastily about the room. Then he quite unexpectedly leaned forward and caught her face between his palms. "Polly Brewster, I'm going to salute you with a brotherly kiss!" whispered Tom, and immediately, he pressed a kiss upon her red lips--but Polly felt sure it was _not_ like John's kisses.

She tried to free her head from his powerful hands, but he laughed masterfully and held her under the light while he gazed into her eyes.

Finally Polly felt herself growing warm and flushed, and to stop his look she closed her eyes and began kicking at his shins.

With a happy laugh, Tom freed her face and picked her up in his arms. In three long strides he was over at the divan where he placed her, sitting upright. Then he sat down beside her.

"Why--Tom Latimer!" gasped Polly, angrily, trying to rearrange her hair which had become tumbled in the fray.

"Why--Tom Latimer!" laughed he, mimicking Polly very cleverly. "You don't know _this_ Tom, do you, girl! But this is the Tom that you'll know hereafter. I'm through acting like a woolly lamb just because Anne says that's the only way to get a girl! You're a Rocky Mountain girl and the only way to make you notice, is to use ranch methods to la.s.so you. That's why I'm here in New York. Catch me letting a rich society darling like that Baxter spend the winter months making love to you, when I'm wasting my heart away at Pebbly Pit, hoping against hope for a nice long letter from you!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOM PICKED POLLY UP IN HIS ARMS.

Polly's Business Venture. Page 200]

Tom's frown and the tone in which he declared himself, made Polly want to laugh albeit she shrunk away, somewhat, for fear of a plot in his mind.

Tom had, in his fervor, lost control once, but he was too wise to indulge himself again, in such a manner. Tom had spent a great deal of time in studying, during the past year, the psychology of love, and now he was going to test his knowledge. He told John, just before he left the ranch, that once a girl liked a fellow, it was easy to make her love him, by judicious treatment. In explanation, he said:

"When Jeb wants to coax one of the burros to the barn, he doesn't give him the measure of oats to eat out on the range--no, he leads the burro to the barn by holding the box of feed ahead of his nose!"

The Brewsters laughed at Tom's idea, but he declared that that was the way he was going to get Polly. And all their arguments about giving Polly a chance to finish her studies and try out her beloved work, fell on dull ears. Tom started East!

"Polly, let's all go to a good show, shall we?" was Tom's unexpected invitation, just as his companion began to worry because he sat so close beside her.

"Oh! Yes--I think that will be lovely!" said Polly.

"All right! Run up and tell the others to get their caps and jackets on.

I'll telephone an agent and see what's good."

Polly ran out of the room, glad to have the problem of the evening's entertainment solved for her, but still she felt a little disappointed because Tom could so eagerly suggest taking the family out when she wanted to have a tete-a-tete with him to ask about the mines. Tom's plan about holding the temptation before a burro instead of surfeiting him with goodies, was evidently beginning to work.

The play was one of the most popular ones, and seats were in great demand. But money does anything in New York, so Tom secured splendid orchestra seats, and they reached the theatre just as the curtain went up on the first scene. The interior was darkened when they entered, and Polly could not tell who sat in front of her, until the first act ended and the lights were turned on.

Tom sat beside her, and began whispering in his free western voice, when a young man seated directly in front, turned deliberately around and stared at him. Polly gasped, and Eleanor nudged her in the side. It was Jack Baxter!

Without taking his eyes from Tom, Jack reached under the chair and got his hat. Then he dragged his coat over his arm, and got up. He bowed stiffly to the girls in Tom's party, and went out. Tom waited until he was gone, then he looked down at Polly.

"Um! It was high time I came East, I see!"

"Why?" was Polly's smiling rejoinder.

"By next Spring it might have been Tom who sat alone and felt like the fifth wheel in a wagon instead of Baxter. My, but I'm glad I came!"

Polly frowned, and Eleanor did her best to hear what was said between these two _apparently_ phlegmatic companions. But Tom meant his words for Polly's ears only.

Once during the evening, when the light was so low that the theatre was almost dark, Tom changed his position in such a way that his arm rested over the back of Polly's chair. In his interest in the scene on the stage, his hand dropped carelessly upon her shoulder. And Polly was too engaged with the play to remove it, or even change her position to allow it to fall back again.

Then Tom moved, so that his arms touched hers, and his hand that rested upon one knee, could cover Polly's hand while the audience was enthralled by the burglar's escape, and no one but Eleanor had the slightest idea of what was going on in these two orchestra chairs. But Polly grew restive and tried to free her hand.

Then the lights went up again, and Tom moved away and said apologetically: "These seats are so cramped for such a great fellow as I am!"

And Polly replied tartly: "Yes, they really ought to allow more room for people's hands and arms."