CHAPTER IV
I
B ob, Valerie and Father Ryan lingered at their table after dinner. There were only two other men in the room. The priest had been talking of a strange family he had visited that day up the line.
“One wonders what it is that holds such people together,” he said.
“It’s because they are tame,” said Valerie. “Fear of the unknown and lack of an adventurous spirit.” She nodded down the room at Mac who came in as she was speaking and sat down at his table. “Do you think it’s religion?” she went on turning again to Father Ryan.
“Well, I wouldn’t dogmatize about that,” he smiled.
“You know, you’re no good for an argument. You never come out and say anything that one can talk against.”
“You deprive her of an awful lot of pleasure,” grinned Bob.
The priest smiled into her pugilistic eyes. “I’m not as sure as you are about many things,” he said softly.
Bob chuckled.
“I’m not as sure as I seem, but it amuses me ———”
Bob turned his head to see what had stopped her so abruptly.
A man had entered at the other end of the room and had sat down with Mac. His appearance in the most gilded dining-room in the world would have been arresting. There it was miraculous.
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