I would sooner see a woman serious than see her laugh; that is, if some one else were making love to her. For when she is serious there are two ways about it; but when she laughs there is only time for one.
When she saw me, the little mouse came at once to the counter and took down the piece of cold cod steak without a word. As she handed me the bag and the little paper check, she said—
“How’s the kitten to-day?”
Then I knew she felt guilty, and was trying to distract my mind from what she knew I had seen.
“Why are you ashamed of talking to the young man?” I asked.
“I’m not,” said she.
“Did you notice his eyes?” said I.
She looked at me for a moment, quite frightened, then she scampered away into a corner and began wetting her pencil with her lips and scribbling things. When the young man tapped his coffee-cup, she pretended not to hear. But as soon as I stepped out into the street, I turned round and saw her hurrying back to his table.
You guess how it went along. He asked her to marry him—then—there—at once. You might have known he was a man of business.