At her words he sat forward in his chair, the yellow stars blazing in his eyes.

But the opening was not the one he had counted upon, and before he could alter his speech to fit it, or could do more than raise a hand to detain her, she had gone.
He sat back in his chair, calculating how to meet this mood.

Then the door resounded under a double knock and Bernal came in.
"Well, old boy, I'll be off to-night.

The lawyer is done with me here and now I'll go to Edom and finish what's to be done there.

Then in a few days I'll be out of this machine and back to the ranche.