"I told him I had only pretended to like him, all these years. People, particularly gentlemen, don't like to think you have to pretend to like them."
Crane laughed aloud, wondering if the girl had any idea how amusing she was. In the pause that followed, the sound of a deep masculine voice could be heard suddenly under their feet. The office was immediately above the servants' sitting-room, and it was but too evident that a visitor had just entered.
Crane looked at the cook questioningly, and she had the grace to color.
"Why, did you ever, sir," she said. "There he is, this very moment!"
"Shall I go down and forbid him the house?" asked Burton, and though he spoke in fun, he would have been delighted to act in earnest.
"Oh, no, sir, thank you," she answered. "I am not going back to the kitchen."
This reminded her employer of the extreme difficulty he had experienced in seeing his cook at all.
"Why did you try and get out of seeing me, Jane-Ellen?" he said. "You knew about what I had to say, I suppose?"
"I had a notion, sir."
"And were you afraid?"