Her voice was not frigid; rather, it merely conveyed an idea of remoteness. It was as if she were at the other end of a thousand miles of wire.
"Anyhow, I'm sorry," he said.
To Mary that seemed to require no answer.
"Mighty sorry, Miss Norcross. I wouldn't have put you in that position for anything. I—I apologize."
But it appeared that she had again retired into the silences.
"Oh, be reasonable about it," he said in a begging tone. "Bawl me out and let's have it over with. That's the way Aunt Caroline and I do it."
"I am not your Aunt Caroline, Mr. Marshall."
"I know. But you're thinking just what she would think, so it amounts to the same thing. Please bawl me out."
"I don't know that it is one of my duties to do so," observed Mary. "I think perhaps we had better not discuss it at all."