I don't want you to think that I distrusted you exactly
- " she marvelled at herself that she could say such things to him, but
went recklessly on. "The check wasn't there, - and so, well, it seemed
wisest to wait. They said you were coming back, and I couldn't afford to
lose it; so I stayed. Just a matter of business, you see!" She finished
in a tone which, except for a suspicious tremble, was satisfactorily
disagreeable.
But Blair's armor, since his return, seemed proof against such thrusts
as she could give.
"Won't play Indian at all, then?" he retorted teasingly. "But of course
not! How could you when you happen to come from the other side of the
house? However," he continued whimsically, "there are such things as
English roses, you know. I've always loved them, too, even when they
were thorny!"
He pulled absently at a fern growing near, while, suddenly, for no
particular reason, the color glowed again in the cheeks of the little
art teacher. She smiled, half unwillingly.
"But don't pull up the wild flowers here," she warned him, "You'll have
the forester after you! When did you get back?" she added. "Where have
you been so long?" burned on her lips, but she scorned to ask it.
"About an hour ago," he replied amiably.
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