"'Oh, sir, oh, sir!' You say that as if every man you knew had not been saying the same thing to you for the last five years."
Jane-Ellen had another of her attacks of dangerous candor.
"Well, a good many have said it, sir," she whispered, "but it never sounded to me as it did when you said it." And after this she had the grace to dart through the door and downstairs, so fast that he could hear her little heels clatter on each step as she went.
In the hall he found Tucker, standing under a lamp, studying a time-table, with glasses set very far down his nose. Opposite, Lefferts was leaning against the wall, his arms folded and the expression on his face of one who has happened unexpectedly upon a very good moving picture show.
Seeing Crane, Tucker folded up his time-table and removed his glasses.
"Your other guest has just arrived," he observed.
"Oh, is Reed here?"
"Yes," said Lefferts, "he's in your office taking off his coat."
"And you may be interested to know," added Tucker, with a biting simplicity that had impressed many juries in its time, "you may be interested to know that he is the man I found kissing Jane-Ellen last week."
"What, Reed!" cried Crane, with a gesture that might have been interpreted as ferocious.