“I haven’t been amused very much lately then, have I?” she murmured, and once more Allen began to look savage.
“Stop it!” he said, and Betty looked at him, wide-eyed. Her mirth nearly bubbled over.
“Were you speaking to me?” she asked, and then at the look on his face she began to laugh and the more savage he looked the more she laughed.
Allen got up and walked to the other end of the porch. A moment later Betty’s voice, still choked with laughter, reached him.
“Allen, don’t be a goose,” she said. “Come here and talk to me. I won’t laugh. Truly I won’t.”
Allen came, still forbidding, and sat down beside her. He was quiet so long that she finally reopened the conversation.
“What’s the matter, Allen?” she asked, gently. “Are you worried about anything?”
At her changed tone he turned to her eagerly.
“Will you listen to me without laughing?”
There was a sparkle in Betty’s eyes but her lips were grave.