As it was, however, and because of her pride in him, she suddenly determined that she would let him win his spurs.

Though it was beyond defining, there was a subtle change in her manner when she leaned back in her chair.
"I think," said Weston, "the first course you mentioned is the only one open to me." The words did not cost him as great an effort as they would have a moment or two earlier.

He felt that in the meanwhile something had snapped and the tension had suddenly slackened.

This was a vast relief to him, and he had recovered a good deal of his composure when the girl spoke again.
"Still," she said, "you evidently have no great liking for the market-place." "I'm afraid I haven't," admitted Weston, with a little laugh.

"After all, when one has seen how some of these mining syndicates and mortgage companies get in their work, a certain prejudice against such things isn't quite unnatural." "Ah," said Ida, who had now decided that the conversation must be kept within safe limits, "you don't, however, mind using the shovel." Weston was quite ready to follow the lead she had given him.
"What are we to do when we come out here ?" he asked, with an air of whimsical reflection.