She did mind very much indeed. She had somehow lost interest in him as soon as he ceased to be the mystery B.G. She liked him well enough, admired his manners, his really delicate tact in what must have been for him an extremely difficult position. But she had got the impression that Dick was right in estimating him as a "don't-amount-to-much." And just now he was distinctly a kill-joy. However, she acquiesced courteously, though with no unnecessary cordiality. She felt that now was the time to get him in the habit of respecting her privacy; she could establish a barrier now, where an attempt to establish it later on would offend him. At best, the barrier would be a poor enough makeshift; he would be bound to see, to make her feel uncomfortable about things she had been able to keep unconscious of or indifferent to. Still, she was far too generous to blame him.
"Do you have much spare time?" she asked, her manner more cordial than if she had not been wishing him out of the house.
"A great deal. Vaughan realizes I'm only an amateur."
"I'll take you over to the club and introduce you. You'll find some very agreeable people."
"Thank you. It has been rather dull these two weeks—especially of evenings."
"I don't see how you had the courage to come."
"I had to," said he, in the curt way in which a young man gives himself the pleasure of hinting a secret he cannot with good taste give himself the pleasure of telling.
She glanced across the lake at the twinkling lamps of the town. "The women over there will fill every minute you give them," said she. "You see, most of our men are busy all day and tired in the evening. You'll be a lion."
"That sounds attractive. I'm amazed at the West. I had no idea civilization was so advanced."
The implied condescension in this amused her. But she merely said: "Oh, I guess the same sort of people are much alike the world over."