He has had to spend more on her doctor 's bills than would have raised the mortgage . And now that she is dead and he might have a chance to pull up , you go and foreclose . '' `` A man must look out for Number One , '' said Bryan easily , admiring Nan 's downcast eyes and rosy cheeks . `` I have n't any spite against Osborne , but business is business , you know . '' Nan opened her lips to say something but , remembering Osborne 's parting injunction , she shut them again . She shot a scornful glance at Lee as he stood with his arms folded on the sill beside her . Bryan lingered , talking small talk , until Nan announced that she must see about getting tea . `` And you wo n't tell me who is going to take you to the picnic ? '' he coaxed . `` Oh , it 's Ned Bennett , '' said Nan indifferently . Bryan felt relieved . He unpinned the huge cluster of violets on his coat and laid them down on the sill beside her before he went . Nan flicked them off with her fingers as she watched him cross the lawn , his own self-satisfied smile upon his face . * * * * * A week later the Osborne homestead had passed into Bryan Lee 's hands and John Osborne was staying with his cousin at Thornhope , pending his departure for the west . He had never been to see Nan since that last afternoon , but Bryan Lee haunted the Stewart place . One day he suddenly stopped coming and , although Nan was discreetly silent , in due time it came to old Abe 's ears by various driblets of gossip that Nan had refused him . Old Abe marched straightway home to Nan in a fury and demanded if this were true . Nan curtly admitted that it was . Old Abe was so much taken aback by her coolness that he asked almost meekly what was her reason for doing such a fool trick . `` Because he turned John Osborne out of house and home , '' returned Nan composedly .
`` If he had n't done XXXXX there is no telling what might have happened .
Because against although by for in of that to upon