"Thinner?"
"Yes, not so fat." How absurd he was with his——
"She never was fat." There was decision in John Dene's tone.
"You know, Mr. Dene, you're very difficult for a girl to talk to," said Marjorie.
"I never had time to learn," he said simply.
"I think it's through you, Mr. Dene." She gave him a little fugitive smile she had learned from an American film, and had practised assiduously at home.
"What's through me?" he demanded, hopelessly at sea as to her drift.
"At first I thought you were working her too hard, Mr. Dene, but," she added hastily, as if in anticipation of protest, "but—but——"
"But what?" John Dene rapped out the words with a peremptoriness that startled Marjorie.
"But when you got lost——" She hesitated.