“Honest, girl, I’m in earnest. He’s—”
“He’s engaged to Letty Standish, for one thing. And if he wasn’t, I wouldn’t marry him if he and a tone-deaf piano tuner were the only two men left on earth.”
“His bein’ engaged to the Standish girl needn’t matter,” urged Caleb, too much engrossed in her first observation to note the second, “Because I can fix that all right.”
In spite of her indignation, Desirée laughed aloud.
“Oh, you great and wise man!” she cried. “How, may I ask?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said with perfect confidence, “Because I haven’t thought it over. But I can fix it. I can always fix things when I have to.”
“Well, in this case,” she retorted, “you can spare yourself the crime of parting two loving souls and fracturing two adoring hearts and shattering Granite’s social fabric just on my account. When I really want to marry and I find I can’t lure the shrinking Adonis to my feet I’ll let you know. Then you can try your luck at making him propose.”
“Sure, I will,” promised Conover, in all seriousness, “Just give me the word when the time comes an’ the feller’s yours for the askin’. But I’m kind of disappointed in the way you turn Caine down. It seemed such a grand idee. That’s one of the reasons I asked him in, this afternoon. I thought when you saw us together he’d kind of shine by contrast with me, you know. More’n when you meet him with folks of his own sort.”
“The contrast was there!” she blazed. “It fairly sizzled, it was so strong. For one thing Mr. Caine has manner. And you haven’t got even manners. And I ought to hate you for daring to talk so to me. And—and you’re the dearest, stupidest, splendidest boy I know. Now I’m going to dress for dinner. You can talk to Siegfried-Mickey if you want to while I’m gone. But if you want to win his fondness, don’t make silly, squiffy plans for his social future.”
She was out of the room before Conover could frame an answer. But on the instant she had turned back long enough to thrust her flushed face momentarily through the opening of the curtains and suggest demurely: