Jack glowered at her. "One would think I spread a contagion."
"Well, you know I don't care particularly for Mr. Pitman."
"That's only an excuse. It's me you don't care for."
She laughed tantalizingly. Jack saw now that he had started wrong but didn't quite see how to repair the original mistake. He got up to go. He knew that if he lost his temper, he would be completely at her mercy.
"I'd better go if we're only going to quarrel," he muttered.
"Who's quarreling? Can't you take a joke?"
"It's like a flick of the whip on the raw."
He had sounded the right note at last. She heard the real pain in his voice, and jumped up, careless of where the sewing went.
"Jack, wait a minute! What's the matter?"
He paused with his hand on the door-knob. "Nothing."