That, perhaps, was his chief charm.

“Yes, Mister Winters,” replied the archaeologist constrainedly. “I was in love with Cherry. Not, however, as those young men were in the East. But very terribly, deeply in love.”

“Fine! Oh, excuse me, Stephen,” rejoined Winters. “I mean…that’s what I thought. That’s why I liked you. These young lounge lizards play at love. They make me sick. Between you and me, I’ve a sneaking suspicion they make Cherry sick, too…Now, Stephen, here’s the vital question. Is all that past tense?”

Cherry made the discovery that she was trembling, and imagined it was from the shame of being an unwitting eavesdropper. How impossible now to call out. Yet she might have slipped away. But she did not.

“No. I never got over it. And now it’s worse,” Heftral said not without a tragic note.

“Stephen, by heavens, you are a loyal fellow. Would it surprise you to know I’m pleased?”

“Thank you, Mister Winters. But I fear that I’m more than surprised.”

“See here, Stephen, you want to be prepared for jars, not only from Cherry, but also me. I’m her Dad, you know…Listen, I brought Cherry out to your desert with bare-faced deliberate intent. To marry her to you and save her from that pack of wolves back there. Incidentally, of course, to make both of you happy.”

“My God!” gasped Heftral. He was not the only one who gasped. Cherry in her excitement nearly fell out of the hammock.

“It’s an honest fact and I’m not ashamed,” Winters went on, getting earnest.

“But, Mister Winters…you do me honor. You are most wonderfully kind, but you are quite out of your head.”

“Maybe I am. I don’t care. I mean it. I love Cherry and I’d go to any extreme to save her. Then I like you immensely. Your father was my dearest friend in college and until he died. I’d get a good deal of happiness out of putting a spoke in your wheel of fortune.”

“Save her!” ejaculated Heftral.

“For God’s sake, Heftral, don’t say you think it’s too late,” Winters appealed in sudden distress.

No quick response came, and Cherry’s heart stood still as she waited for Heftral’s answer. What did that fool think, anyway? She was getting a little sick with anger and fear when Heftral burst out: “Winters, you’re crazy.