Jane's burning eyes did not leave Oscar's face. "Oscar, you choose right now between the Freet crowd, and Mr. Manning and me."
There was that in Jane's eyes which caused Oscar to pale under his tan. "All right, Jane! All right! When you put it that way there is just one thing for me to do. I'll quit them."
Jane suddenly turned, and bowing her head against Oscar's arm she began to sob. "It would have torn my heart strings out to have left you, Oscar."
Jim watched the two with eyes that saw none too clearly.
Oscar smoothed Jane's hair and shook his head. "No use to tell a woman a secret. Jane, you went and told Mrs. Penelope about Freet, didn't you?"
Mrs. Ames wiped her eyes. "You told her yourself. You talked to the wrong flower girl at the ball. She came to me about it the first thing when she saw me today."
"Shucks!" said Oscar.
"How did you get in touch with Freet, Oscar?" asked Jim.
"Aw, I'll help you, Mr. Manning, but I won't tell you other people's business."
"All right, Oscar. It may interest you to know that I had received a note this morning from Freet saying he was coming down here to see me on business."