"I 'ope not, miss," said Bindle anxiously.
"Well you must remember that every time you say things against women you are saying something against me, because I am a woman."
"Lord, miss, don't say that," said Bindle half rising from his chair. "I never thinks o' you as a woman. You seem to be a sort of——" and he paused.
"A sort of what?" enquired Sallie.
"Well, miss, I don't 'ardly like to say."
"Come on, speak up, J.B.," said Dick Little, "don't be a coward. We'll see that Miss Carruthers doesn't hurt you."
"You must finish your sentence, I insist," said Sallie.
"Well, miss, I was goin' to say you always seems more like a mate than a woman."
That is one of the few occasions I have seen Sallie blush. Dick Little's attentions, my devotion, Angell Herald's elaborate manners, the General's gallantry; none of them had succeeded in bringing to Sallie's face the look of pleasure that Bindle's simple remark produced.
"Thank you, Mr. Bindle, very much indeed," she said.