"Oh, very well."
His instant acceptance of her negative was not altogether agreeable.
One moment, and he was bending over his steering-wheel, busying himself with the gear, probably preparatory to driving on and away. The next, he was out of the car, had scaled the porch-pillar, vaulted the low railing, and was calmly sitting not two feet away from her, Turk-fashion, upon the balcony floor.
Katherine laughed. "I didn't know you could climb like that."
"I can't. That wasn't a climb. 'Twas a scramble. Bad work. But I'm out of practice."
"You mustn't stay. Grandmother wouldn't like it. Remember, she forbade my having anything to do with you."
"Sorry, but I don't feel obliged to conform, on that account. If you don't like it, that's another story."
Katherine was silent.
Dr. Ballard did not press the point.
"You said you had something to tell me."