"Of course I don't really mean half I say—you mustn't think I mean it all, really you mustn't. I've known some awfully nice men—men who really were nice, I mean. Most of my pals have been men—not flirting, I don't mean, or anything like that. Just friends."
"I hope you're going to add another to their number," said Nicholas, smiling suddenly.
"Really?"
Her blue-green eyes, neither large nor lustrous, fixed themselves upon his face with a sudden intensity that was somehow alluring.
"Of course, really," Nicholas declared readily.
She sketched a movement that yet was not actually one, and Nicholas found himself ratifying his avowal of friendship with a handclasp.
"I don't want you to feel that all this makes a bit of difference," he said earnestly. "If you ever want a friend—well, here I am, very much at your service. And don't you go and do anything impetuous with your life. I should be very, very sorry to see you make a mistake."
"Thank you," said Doris.
She added after a moment, in the low, half-sullen tone that she sometimes adopted:
"I must say, it's nice to know that somebody cares."