"Stafford, you mean?"
"And Lois herself."
He joined in her amusement.
"Yes, I suppose so."
"You have a good-natured hostess. I dare say the arrangement could be altered if you wished it."
"But I don't. They happen to be my arrangements, you see."
"Oh!" she ejaculated, somewhat taken back.
"On my left there will be Mrs. James, who, as you perhaps know, is stone deaf," he went on calmly. "On Miss Caruthers' right will be Mr. James, who from long custom never opens his mouth except to put something into it. Stafford will be right at the other end of the table."
"You are malicious," she said.
"Not a bit. I only go hard for what I want, that's all." He chuckled to himself and then went on: "I've confided to you my subtle underground plans—why, goodness knows. I'm not usually of a confiding nature. But really, Miss Cary, I feel as though I had known you all my life."