“Oh, yes; but there are different ways of liking a fellow, Inza.”
“I like him as I might a big, handsome brother.”
“Oh, well! that will do. I can’t object to that.”
“Do you think,” she said teasingly, “that you could object under any circumstances? If I really and truly fell in love with him, could you object?”
She had him cornered, and he knew it.
“Oh, I don’t suppose I’d have a right to object!” he laughed, though that pang of jealousy still gnawed at his heart.
“Surely not!” Inza exclaimed. “According to your own tell, Dick is one of the finest fellows in the world, and were he to take a fancy to me, you ought to be glad and happy. It would be your duty to help it along.”
He felt that she was teasing him, but still it was a tender spot, and it made him squirm a bit.
“Inza,” he said sincerely, “once I did my best to keep you from marrying a man your father had selected for you, but a man you told me you did not love.”
“For which,” she admitted, “I owe you much. I can see now that it would have been a fatal folly.”