“You’re fillin’ out,” she remarked. “You’ll soon be a man.”
“Aah!” said Joe; “I’m man enough alretty to be your master!”
Jewel laughed. “Listen to it! I got you to nurse, boy.”
“Where would you be if it wasn’t for me?” demanded Joe.
“Oh, as a business manager you’re all right,” said Jewel. “That wasn’t what I meant. . . . In ten years maybe you can talk about bein’ my master!”
“How do you know I’ll stick to you that long?” asked Joe.
“Well, you will. Not that it matters . . . but you will.”
Joe felt uncomfortable. “Why will I?”
“I don’t know . . . I guess we’re a pair . . .”
A thousand recollections tumbled into Joe’s mind. He looked at Jewel and in her unsmiling eyes he saw the same things that were in his own mind. For the moment he seemed to have become Jewel; and Jewel him; he the woman; Jewel the man. It made him feel queer. “Aah!” he snarled.