"I ain't no kind of a hand at talking to the
womenfolk. Where is she?"
"Down yonder, sheriff. Shall we go?"
"The old lady with the cane?"
"No, the girl with the bright hair."
"Doggone me," muttered the sheriff. "Well, let's saunter down that way."
He waved to Terence, who, casting a black glance in the direction of Mr.
Gainor, went off to execute Elizabeth's errand. Plainly Elizabeth had won
the first engagement, but Vance was still confident. The dinner table
would tell the tale.
CHAPTER 11
Elizabeth left the ordering of the guests at the table to Vance, and she
consulted him about it as they went into the dining room. It was a long,
low-ceilinged room, with more windows than wall space. It opened onto a
small porch, and below the porch was the garden which had been the pride
of Henry Cornish. Beside the tall glass doors which led out onto the
porch she reviewed the seating plans of Vance. "You at this end and I at
the other," he said. "I've put the sheriff beside you, and right across
from the sheriff is Nelly. She ought to keep him busy. The old idiot has
a weakness for pretty girls, and the younger the better, it seems.
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