Kiska took the money. "I vould like to vork for you," he exclaimed.
"Would you?" laughed the politician. "I think perhaps you may some day."
The minor social conventions, which, after all, are possibly the major ones, were consistently ignored by Shelby.
"Not at home?" he repeated after Ruth's maid. "I guess you're mistaken. I saw Miss Temple at the window as I drove in the gate. Just look around a bit, and you'll find her."
He walked calmly past the bewildered girl to the drawing-room. In the centre of the apartment stood Ruth, her cheeks waving crimson, like a poppy field astir.
"Angry?" said the man.
Ruth waited till the open-mouthed maid had retreated down the hall.
"I'm furious," she answered, and looked the part.
"Think I'm a boor?"
She could not trust herself to reply. Had he dared smile then, she would have swept by him, but he was wholly grave.