You certainly have the advantage of me." "You are--" Her pause was eloquent.
"I am Kane Lawler, ma'am." He looked into her eyes for the disappointment he expected to find there, and saw only eager interrogation.
"Oh, then I don't know you.

I beg your pardon." "I reckon there's no harm done," smiled Lawler.
He bowed again, noting that she looked intently at him, her eyes still wide and filled with something he could not fathom.

And when halfway up the stairs he looked back, curious, subtly attracted to the woman, he saw her standing in the doorway, ready to go out, watching him over her shoulder.

He laughed and opened the door of Gary Warden's office.
Warden was sitting at his desk.

He turned at the sound of the door opening, and faced Lawler inquiringly.
Perhaps in Lawler's eyes there still remained a trace of the cold passion that had seized him in the schoolhouse; it may have been that what Lawler had heard of Gary Warden was reflected in his gaze--a doubt of Warden's honorableness.