"No—and still she ought to want to talk to you! Why? Because you're Mr Tristram, I suppose?" Mina indulged in a very scornful demeanor.
"It's very friendly of you to resent my behavior on Miss Iver's behalf."
"There you are again! That means she doesn't resent it! I think you give yourself airs, Mr Tristram, and I should like——"
"To take me down a peg?" he asked, in a tone of rather contemptuous amusement.
She paused a minute, and then nodded significantly.
"Exactly; and to make you feel a little uncomfortable—not quite so sure of yourself and everything about you." Again she waited a minute, her eyes set on his face and watching it keenly. "I wonder if I could," she ended slowly.
"Upon my word, I don't see how it's to be done." He was openly chaffing her now.
"Oh, I don't know that you're invulnerable," she said, with a toss of her head. "Don't defy me, Mr
Tristram. I don't mind telling you that it would be very good for you if you weren't——"
"Appreciated?" he suggested ironically.