"That's all over," I said casually. "It was just one of the things that comes and goes. Like this little—acquaintance of ours."
"What do you mean, goes?" he demanded almost fiercely.
"They always do, don't they? Awfully pleasant things don't last. And we can't go on meeting indefinitely. Some one will tell father, and then where will I be?"
That was a wrong move about father.
"That reminds me," he said. "Are you sure your father dislikes me such a lot?"
"Don't let's talk about it," I said, and closed my eyes.
"Because I met him to-day, and he nearly fell on my neck and hugged me."
Can you beat that? I was stunned.
"The more he detests people," I managed finally, "the more polite he is."
Then I took off my gloves and fell to rubbing the fingers of my left hand. And he moved round and put it in the other coat pocket without a word, with his hand over it, and the danger was past, for the time anyhow.