"Yes."
"Why?"
"Wanted to get even with you."
"You're talking in riddles," Reade protested, in a puzzled tone.
"At the same time I'm greatly obliged to you."
"Thought you'd be," grunted Leon. "That's how I got even."
"What do you mean?" Tom wanted to know. "You got even by placing me under a great obligation?"
"Just that," nodded the cook, "we had trouble, once, and you came out on top, didn't you?"
"Yes; but that little affair needn't have prevented us from being friends."
"It did, until I had done something to make you needed me as a friend," the cook declared.
Tom laughed at this statement of the case. It accorded quite closely, however, with the cook's generally sulky disposition. Even a friendship Leon would offer or accept grudgingly.