Then she took his hand.
“Ju-Ju—why will you be such a fool?”
“I don’t know,” said Jones.
The caress of the little jewelled hand destroyed his mental powers. He dared not look at her, just sat staring before him.
“They told me all about the coal mine,” she went on, “at least Venetia did, and how they all bully-ragged you—Venetia was great on that. Venetia waggled that awful gobbly-Jick head of hers while she was telling me—they’re mad over the loss of that coal thing—oh, Ju-Ju, I’m so glad you lost it. It’s wicked, I suppose, but I’m glad. That’s what made me come back, the way they went on about you. I listened and listened and then I broke out. I said all I’ve wanted to say for the last six months to Venetia. You know she told me how you came home the other night. I said nothing then, just listened and stored it up. Then, last night, when they all got together about the coal mine I went on listening and storing it up. Blunders was there as well as your mother and Venetia. Blunders said he had called you an ass and that you were. Then I broke out. I said a whole lot of things—well, there it is. So I came back—there were other reasons as well. I don’t want to be alone. I want to be cared for—I want to be cared for—when I saw you in Bond Street, yesterday—I—I—I—Ju-Ju, do you care for me?”
“Yes,” said Jones.
“I want to confess—I want to tell you something.”
“Yes.”
“If you didn’t care for me—if I felt you didn’t, I’d—”
“Yes.”