"Oh—nothing," he finally answered, with a look of regret upon his face.
"But it is something!" I persisted, "and, even if I am in a big hurry, I shan't budge until you tell me!"
"Well, since you insist—I only meant to say that I'd been doing a little thinking on my own account lately—as owner and publisher of this paper, with its interests at heart—and I've wondered just how much a woman might accomplish, after a man had failed."
"A woman?"
"By the ill use of her eyes, I mean," he confessed, his own eyes twinkling a little. "Women can gain by the ill use of their eyes what men fail to accomplish by their straightforward methods."
"But that's what men hate so in women!" I said.
He nodded.
"Ye-es—maybe! That is, they make a great pretense of hating a woman when she uses her eyes to any end save one—charming them for their own dear sakes!"
"They naturally grudge her the spoils she gains by the ill use of those important members," I answered defensively.
"Oh," he put in quickly, "I wasn't going to suggest that you do any such thing—unless you wanted to! I was merely thinking—that was all!"