"Indeed!" laughed Paula satirically. "I ought to feel quite complimented."
Tod broke out into a hearty laugh. Pointing gleefully at his hostess, he cried:
"Ha! ha! The ice is cracking. Miss Marsh—I warn you—you're warming up!"
Paula was about to make retort when the door opened and Harry Parkes appeared. He nodded stiffly to Tod and approached the lawyer.
"Mr. Ricaby," he said, "your office is calling you on the telephone."
The lawyer immediately excused himself and hurried out of the room. There was an awkward silence. Tod looked at Harry and the latter looked at Tod. Both rivals for the lady's good graces, neither seemed disposed to leave the field free for the other.
"Well—I suppose I'd better go——" growled Tod finally. Holding out his hand to Paula, he said: "May I report progress?" Seeing her smile and thinking he might be able to get the best of the other fellow after all, he went on: "My car is downstairs. Won't you come down and look it over?"
"Thank you, so——" she replied.
"Just a spin round the park," he pleaded. "I can do it in fifteen minutes. It's all right, you know. The speed limit don't go with me at all—I know all the policemen. You see Jimmy is running strong with the chief—and whatever we say, goes."
Paula laughed merrily.