"I can't let you talk like that even in fun, Revelly," said Crane. "Get off your ice-box and let us go back to Claudia."
"Ah, you knew all along?"
"I have suspected for some time. Reed told me this evening."
But when they reached the dining-room, Claudia was not there. She had gone herself to tell her news to her brother Paul. He was sitting alone in the garret with the remnants of the game of Coon-Can before him. Claudia came and put her hand on his shoulder, but he did not move.
"Do you know what I have made up my mind to do?" he said. "I mean to go and make a clean breast of this to Crane. The game is about up, and I don't think he's had a square deal. He's a nice fellow, and I'd like to put myself straight with him."
Claudia remained standing behind her brother, as she asked, "You like him, Paul?"
"Very much indeed. I think he's behaved mighty well through all this. Don't you like him?"
There was an instant's pause, and then Claudia answered simply:
"I love him, Paul."
Her brother sprang to his feet. "Don't say that even to yourself, my dear," he said. "You don't know what men of his sort are like. Spoilt, run after, cold-blooded. He's not like the men you've ruled over all your life—"