"And I do thank you." Dorothy's eyes were dancing under the praise, yet the blue-steel gleam still lingered in their depths. "You make amends very pleasantly."
"Amends?" Macgowan's brows lifted. "For what, pray?"
"For a remark you made in Evansville, the day we were married. You remember?"
Macgowan regarded her, frowning slightly in puzzled retrospection.
"I'm afraid not," he said. "Surely, it was nothing to require amends?"
As he said this, his eyelids lowered the barest trifle. The movement was entirely involuntary. So trivial was it, so subtly evanescent, as to be almost imperceptible; only one watching him keenly would have observed this slight muscular reflex.
Dorothy observed it. If she knew it for the sign of a lie, she made no comment.
"Oh, not in the least!" she responded, a smile on her lips. "And I dare Reese to try dragging business into this home and spoiling it! Just to show that I'm not a bit afraid of the consequences, I want to ask you two men something about business."
Armstrong settled deeper into his chair and lighted his cigar.
"Fire away, Dot! Any time I don't drop business the minute I leave the office, just you jump on me. Want to invest some surplus cash, or what?"