"What's the sense of being diplomatic when somebody sticks you up with a gun? That's what it was; it was a stick-up."
Mary made a patient gesture of dissent.
"I don't think you handled it in the right way at all," she said, firmly. "You didn't accomplish anything, except to offend your aunt."
"Well, I'm not going to stand for it, anyhow. So what was the use of pussy footing? You're all against me—the whole three of you."
Mary studied him for several seconds.
"Whose secretary am I?" she demanded.
"Why—mine. That is, you're supposed to be."
"Well, am I or am I not?"
"Of, if it comes to that, you are." He said it reluctantly and suspiciously.