"Dare I!" he repeated boastfully.
"But you mustn't! Don't, George, please don't. Promise you won't. Promise, George."
"All right."
"Thank you." She drew her hand away.
"The fact is, she's always pretty hard on you."
Miriam's flame went out. "You don't mean," she said coldly, "that you discuss me with her?"
"No, I do not."
"You swear you never have?"
He had a pleasing and indulgent smile. "Yes, I swear it, but she dislikes the whole lot of you, and you can't always stop a woman's talk."
"You should be able to," she said. She wished she had not come for George did not realize what was due to her. She would go to John and she nodded a cold good-bye.