His task was not a simple one. He was instructed to employ tact, to
hint rather than to speak, to say nothing to convey the impression that
Ruth in any way regretted the step she had taken, to give the idea that
it was a matter of complete indifference to her whether she ever saw
her father again or not, yet at the same time to make it quite clear
that she was very anxious to see him as soon as possible.
William Bannister, grown to maturity and upholding the interests of his
country as ambassador at some important court, might have jibbed at the
mission.
William Bannister was to accompany Steve and be produced dramatically
to support verbal arguments. It seemed to Ruth that for her father to
resist William when he saw him was an impossibility. William's position
was that of the ace of trumps in the cards which Steve was to play.
Steve made a few objections. His chief argument against taking up the
post assigned to him was that he was a roughneck, and that the job in
question was one which no roughneck, however gifted in the matter of
left hooks, could hope to carry through with real success. But he
yielded to pressure, and the expedition set out.
William Bannister at this time was at an age when he was beginning to
talk a little and walk a little and take a great interest in things.
His walking was a bit amateurish, and his speech rather hard to follow
unless you had the key to it.
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