"Then it can't bother you," he laughed.
"No," she smiled.
The host turned to the shipping clerk.
"Mr. Gillie?"
Jimmie assumed a ludicrous expression. Hesitatingly he said:
"I feel as though I ought to pay for it."
"Oh, no, no!" laughed Stafford.
"Yes," exclaimed the clerk, as if fully prepared to pay out $3,000 at a moment's notice, "that's the way I feel, but if you insist—"
"And I certainly do," said his host decidedly.
"Then," rejoined the clerk reluctantly, "I suppose I shall have to let the matter drop."