He smiled a little. "Well, I guess I thought telling you first was one way of breaking it to her gently."
"I'm perfectly disgusted with you," Carol went on, "perfectly. Here I've been expecting you to propose to me all week, and—"
"Propose to you! My stars!"
"Don't interrupt me," Carol snapped. "Last night I lay awake for hours,—look at the rings beneath my eyes—"
"I don't see 'em," he interrupted again, smiling more broadly.
"Just thinking out a good flowery rejection for you, and then you trot me out here and propose to Lark! Well, if that isn't nerve!"
Jim laughed loudly at this. He was used to Carol, and enjoyed her little outbursts. "I can't think what on earth made you imagine I'd want to propose to you," he said, shaking his head as though appalled at the idea.
Carol's eyes twinkled at that, but she did not permit him to see it. "Why shouldn't I think so? Didn't you get a new gray suit? And haven't I the best complexion in Mount Mark? Don't all the men want to propose to a complexion like mine?"
"Shows their bum taste," he muttered.
Carol twinkled again. "Of course," she agreed, "all men have bum taste, if it comes to that."