"Very, but in a silly way. He's full of pride, you see. He drew himself up and gave me a lecture about deceiving men."
"Well, since you have lost interest in him, it makes no difference."
"But in a way," she said faintly, rising slowly from her chair, "I can't help feeling some interest."
"Naturally not. But, you see, I was worried so much about you and this foolish fellow that I gave orders for him to be put out of the way, as soon as you left him."
Caroline Smith stood for a moment stunned and then ran to him.
"No, no!" she declared. "In the name of the dear mercy of Heaven, John, you haven't done that?"
"I'm sorry."
"Then call him back—the one you sent. Call him back, John, and I'll serve you the rest of my life without question. I'll never fail you, John, but for your own sake and mine, for the sake of everything fair in the world, call him back!"
He pushed away her hands, but without violence. "I thought it would be this way," he said coldly. "You told a very good lie, Caroline. I suppose clever Ronicky Doone rehearsed you in it, but it needed only the oldest trick in the world to expose you."
She recoiled from him. "It was only a joke, then? You didn't mean it,
John? Thank Heaven for that!"