“He’s my nephew,” said Mr. Rhodes. “Perhaps I can explain. You see, he’s in Lawrence’s office—doing very well, too; and your niece—well, the first time I saw them together, I knew how the land lay.”
“Nonsense!” said Miss Carter.
“No,” he insisted. “It’s not. It’s the real thing.”
They were both silent for a moment.
“I’m fond of the boy,” he went on; “and—of course I saw what sort of girl she was, but I wanted to see you.” He smiled. “It was a pretty mean trick,” he said. “She telephoned to Lawrence’s office and asked for Mr. Rhodes, and I happened to be there. I knew she meant Jack, but I answered; and when she asked if Mr. Rhodes would like to come to dinner, I said yes. We arranged to meet at the station, and”—he smiled again—“there I was! Poor little thing, she made the best of it, but—”
“I see!” said Miss Carter.[Pg 293]
She took up the egg beater and began to turn it vigorously, so that the noise of it drowned whatever the man was saying. She didn’t want to hear, anyhow. A strange and unreasonable alarm filled her. If this man wasn’t Maude’s Mr. Rhodes—no, she wouldn’t think about that. She wouldn’t think at all, but would simply turn that egg beater with a prodigious clatter in the earthenware bowl.
A large, strong hand was laid upon the handle of the thing, and the noise ceased abruptly, leaving the kitchen amazingly quiet.
“Miss Carter!” said Mr. Rhodes.
“No!” said she, though she couldn’t have explained just what she meant.