"Says she's got to get her house in shape before she'll start. Wonderful housekeeper—got to leave everything 'just so' or she'll be in misery all the time she's gone. Get your hat on and jump in."
Nan hesitated.
"She'll be along right enough—there's her trunk in the wagon."
When Nan turned to go back into the hotel Fritz Poth was staring hard at her with an expression so darkly disapproving that it startled her. She had a half-formed impulse to ask him if there was any reason why she should not go, but ignored it, and went on to her room. His attitude annoyed and vaguely disturbed her but she told herself as she pinned her hat that he was presumptuous; that her movements were certainly not Fritz Poth's affair and she said good-bye to him, with a shade less friendliness in her manner. He responded curtly, glowering from the doorway as they drove off.
Spiser talked of the county and its people on the long drive to the ranch-house on the Esmeraldas in something of the manner of a feudal lord.
