"What do you mean, Mr. Rawn?" she replied in her usual low and clear tones.
"There's been talk!"
"Talk? About what?"
"Us!"
"About us? What can you mean, Mr. Rawn?" she asked.
"The world is so confoundedly small, my dear girl, that it seems everything you do is known by everybody else. Of course, a man like myself is in the public eye; but we've always minded our business, and it ought not to have been anybody else's business beyond that."
"You disturb me, Mr. Rawn! What has happened?"
"—But now, to-night, now—just a little while ago—I met this fellow Ackerman—you know him—big man in the company—used to be general traffic manager down in St. Louis, on the old railroad where I began—well, he was drunk, and he talked."
"What could he say?"
"He got me by the coat collar and proceeded to tell me how much—how much—well, to tell the truth, he connected your name and mine. If he wasn't drunk—and a director—I'd go down there yet and smash his face for him! What business was it of his? Of course, men don't mind such things so much. But when it comes to you—why, my dear girl!"