"He can't hear. Not through that log wall. But we'll talk soft, if you want."
"Yes, yes. Keep your voice down. He's already jealous of you, Joe."
"Of me?"
"He knows I like you, that I trust you; and just now he's on edge about everyone I look at."
The surprising news which the first part of this sentence contained caused Joe to gape, and the girl looked away in concern, enabling him to control his expression. For she knew well enough that men hate to appear foolishly surprised. And particularly a fox like Joe Rix.
"But what's the trouble, Nelly?" He added with a touch of venom: "I thought everything was going smoothly with you. And I thought you weren't worrying much about what Lord Nick had in his mind."
She stared at him as though astonished.
"Do you think just the same as the rest of them?" she asked sadly. "Do you mean to say that you're fooled just the same as Harry Masters and the Pedlar and the rest of those fools—including Nick himself?"
Joe Rix was by no means willing to declare himself a fool beforehand. He now mustered a look of much reserved wisdom.
"I have my own doubts, Nell, but I'm not talking about them."