Eleanor flashed a swift glance at him. "You are keener than I expected. In reality I am not like him in the least, though I don't know why I should trouble to admit it. In any case, I think the rule generally holds good."
She dismissed the subject abruptly, with a laugh. "After all, our affairs can't interest you. You can't have seen very much of my brother."
Jordan appeared to consider this. "I'm not sure that counts," he said. "I seem to have been a friend of Jimmy's quite a long while. There are people who make you feel that, even when it isn't so, although they may not consciously want to. One can't tell how they do it—but I think you have the power in you."
"I don't know," said Eleanor. "I am, however, by no means certain that I was ever very anxious to make friends with anybody."
"That's comprehensible. You would sooner they wanted to make friends with you, and if no one did, you would be sufficient for yourself."
Eleanor looked at him with a chilly smile. "You have a certain penetration, but I don't know that there is any reason why I should confess to you. How do you come to know anything about Mr. Merril?"
Jordan, who appeared to have no doubt as to her ability to understand him, in which he was warranted, told her.
"Well," she said, "suppose this man's influence is too strong for you, and you have to break your connection with the mill?"
"There are two or three other things I could turn to."
"One would suppose as much;" and Jordan took it as a compliment, which perhaps it was, especially as the girl had not said it with the least desire to gratify him. "Still, that is not what I mean. Would you try to find any means of retaliating?"