CHAPTER VI
It was not settled that evening. Martha declared she must have at least a few hours in which to think it over and Galusha, of course, agreed.
“It won't take too long,” she said. “Naturally, you want to know so that you can make your plans.”
Galusha smiled. “Please take as much time as you need, Miss Phipps,” he urged. “If you permit me to remain here while you are—ah—endeavoring to reach a decision I shall be quite satisfied, really. In that case, you know, I should be willing to wait for the decision until spring. Dear me, yes—even until summer.”
Martha laughed and declared she should decide long before that. “I think breakfast time to-morrow will settle it,” she added.
It did. After breakfast she informed him that he might stay if he wished.
“Though WHY you want to I can't understand,” she said. “And of course it is part of the agreement that you'll feel free to give it up and go any time you wish; as soon as you begin to get tired of the place and us, I mean.”
He beamed satisfaction. “I shall not be the one to tire first,” he declared. Then he added, earnestly, “Of course, Miss Phipps, you will be perfectly frank and tell me at once if you change YOUR mind. And if I should become a—ah—well, a sort of nuisance, be irregular at meals, or noisy or—What is it? I beg your pardon?”
She had laughed outright. She was still smiling when she apologized.