He kicked a fir cone savagely away.
“If I could,” he said, “I would shut up my office to-morrow, sell out, and live upon a farm. But I've got to keep what I've made. The more you succeed the more involved you become. It's a sort of slavery.”
“Have you no friends?” she asked.
“I have never,” he answered, “had a friend in my life.”
“You have guests at any rate!”
“I sent 'em away last night!”
“What, the young lady in blue?” she asked demurely.
“Yes, and the other one too. Packed them clean off, and they're not coming back either!”
“I am very pleased to hear it,” she remarked.
“There's a man and his wife and daughter here I can't get rid of quite so easily,” he went on gloomily, “but they've got to go!”