“I hope you will stay,” said William with obvious sincerity.
There was enough Woman in the heart of the niece of S. Gedge Antiques to cause her to smile to herself. This was a perfect Simple Simon of a fellow, yet she could not deny that there was something about him which gave her quite a thrill.
“Why do you hope so?” asked Woman, with seeming innocence.
“I don’t know why I do, unless it is that you are so perfectly nice to talk to.” And the Simpleton grew suddenly red at his own immoderation.
Woman in her cardinal aspect might have said “Really” in a tone of ice; she might even have been tempted to ridicule such a statement made by such a young man; but Woman in the shrewdly perceptive person of June was now aware that this air of quaint sincerity was a thing with which no girl truly wise would dare to trifle. William was William and must be treated accordingly.
“Aren’t you very clever?”
She knew he was clever, but for a reason she couldn’t divine she was anxious to let him know that she knew it.
“I don’t think I am at all.”
“But you are,” said June. “You must be very clever indeed to go about the country buying rare things cheap for Uncle Si to sell.”
“Oh, anybody can pick up a few odds and ends now and again if one has been given the money to buy them.”