“I don’t believe any of our crowd will stay here like the old folks have done, except Todd Stewart and, of course, Leigh,” Jo declared. 257
“Say, Jo, my folks don’t look old to me. Mummie is younger and good-lookinger than anybody, except—”
“Leigh Shirley,” Jo broke in.
Thaine looked at his watch without replying.
“Is it late? You must take me home, now,” Jo said. “You’ll be over tonight, won’t you? We will have some company from Careyville who want to meet you.”
“I’m sorry, but I promised Leigh up here at church that I’d go over to Cloverdale for a little while tonight.”
Thaine could not tell Jo of Leigh’s affairs, and he felt that the Shirleys’ intimacy with his father’s family and his own expressed admiration and attention to Jo were sufficient to protect him from jealousy. Jo stiffened visibly.
“Thaine Aydelot, what’s the reason for your actions—Oh, I don’t care. Go to Shirley’s, by all means. Everybody to his likes,” she cried angrily.
“Well, that’s my rathers for tonight, and I can’t help it,” Thaine answered hotly.
“Of course you can’t. Let’s go home quick so you can get off early,” Jo said in an angered tone.