"I was just seeing how many I should have to count before you spoke."
"H'm! I'm afraid you do find me a dull companion after all your latest acquisitions. But what can I do? In a way I'm your guardian temporarily. I can't let you run about the country alone with hordes of young men. I may seem selfish; but I have done my best for you since other and younger knights came upon the field."
"That is hypocritical!" I flung at him. "You shed me on others because you like the society of a grown-up woman better than mine; and then you pretend you're doing it for my sake. I like that!"
"I thought you would like it. That's why I did it."
"Not because you wanted to talk to Mrs. West?"
"Oh, of course I like talking to her. Don't you like talking to her brother, and all that drove of boys?"
"Why—yes, I like talking to them well enough, but——"
"But what?"
"You ought to know, without telling."
"I don't know. Are we playing at cross purposes?"