“Well, Miss Penny Ante, I am a little interested in you, seeing as it was you who brought Marta to me. And I knew you would be interested in knowing Marta didn’t take the ring.”
“Oh, Jo! I tried to think it wasn’t Marta, but—”
“She says she acted just as though she had taken it. It was old Merlin, nosing around the hall, who tucked it away. But the real reason I had to run you down was for my pal. He wants you.”
“Why?” she asked. “To apologize? You didn’t tell him, Jo—”
“Then he must want me as an ex-sheriff.”
“Cut that out, Miss Penny Ante. He wants to find you because he loves you.”
“What makes you think so, Jo?”
“He ’fessed up when he found you had gone.”
“He didn’t love me—not as you love Marta,” she reminded him. “It made no difference with you that Marta—”