"You did not approve, perhaps, of that gentleman, Mr. Tucker, coming into the kitchen? But, indeed, I could not help that."
"Oh," said Crane, "so Tucker was in the kitchen, was he?"
"Yes, sir, until Brindlebury told him the motor was coming with the ladies."
"No," said Crane, "the difficulty is over a former visitor of yours. I think it my right, even my duty to prevent anything happening in this house of which I disapprove, and I do not approve, Jane-Ellen, of strangers coming into my house and kissing the cook."
He looked at her squarely as he said this, but her eyes remained fixed on his feet as she replied docilely:
"Yes, sir. Perhaps it would be better for you to speak to the young man about it."
"Ah," returned her employer, as one now going over familiar ground, "you mean to imply that it was not your fault?"
She did not directly answer this question. She said:
"I suppose in your class of life a gentleman would not under any circumstances kiss a young lady against her will?"
"Well," answered Crane, with some amusement, "he certainly never ought to do so. And by the way, one of the points about this incident seems to be that the young man in question had the appearance of being a gentleman."