“You had better leave the run of this thing to me. I won’t ask any more questions than I am compelled; and if they bother you, you can turn a deaf ear to them, as I do when I don’t want to hear yours.”
Signs of rebellion flashed from her eyes, and she made ready to give battle. She held her head high and squared her shapely shoulders.
“I won’t be dictated to like that, and I won’t remain here on any such terms.”
“I am not dictating; I’m talking common sense.”
“I won’t submit to it; I will not.” And she stamped her foot. “I will have an answer to my question. I won’t have things hidden from me. Why won’t you answer it?”
“Didn’t I tell you I had my deaf ear to it?”
“How dare you try to pass it off with a flippant jest like that? Who are you to presume to insult me?”
“Do you really think I wish to insult you?” I asked, very quietly.
“What you wish to do I neither know nor care. But it is an insult, as even the commonest instinct of courtesy would tell you.”
“We rough men of the hills haven’t much to do with courtesy.”