Gainor, went off to execute Elizabeth's errand. Plainly Elizabeth had won
the first engagement, but Vance was still confident. The dinner table
would tell the tale.



CHAPTER 11


Elizabeth left the ordering of the guests at the table to Vance, and she
consulted him about it as they went into the dining room. It was a long,
low-ceilinged room, with more windows than wall space. It opened onto a
small porch, and below the porch was the garden which had been the pride
of Henry Cornish. Beside the tall glass doors which led out onto the
porch she reviewed the seating plans of Vance. "You at this end and I at
the other," he said. "I've put the sheriff beside you, and right across
from the sheriff is Nelly. She ought to keep him busy. The old idiot has
a weakness for pretty girls, and the younger the better, it seems. Next
to the sheriff is Mr. Gainor. He's a political power, and what time the
sheriff doesn't spend on you and on Nelly he certainly will give to
Gainor. The arrangement of the rest doesn't matter. I simply worked to
get the sheriff well-pocketed and keep him under your eye."

"But why not under yours, Vance? You're a thousand times more diplomatic
than I am."

"I wouldn't take the responsibility, for, after all, this may turn out to
be a rather solemn occasion, Elizabeth."

"You don't think so, Vance?"