"You've known David, as you say, all your life. Why, then, did you come to me? Why didn't you ask him?"
A quick change swept into the other's expressive eyes, and Bab beheld it with surprise. It seemed to Bab almost as if she winced.
"Stop and think! You don't for a moment believe I'd let him know, do you? I at least don't mean to hurt him!"
Bab waited until she had finished.
"Yes," she said, "but that doesn't prevent your hurting me. You still suggest that I am amusing myself at his expense!"
Linda shook her head.
"No; I merely beg you not to! That's why I came here to see you."
"I dare say," said Bab quietly; "but there's one thing you overlook. You seem to forget, Linda, that what in another girl might seem significant, on my part would be harmless. Have you thought of that?"
"Harmless?" interrogated Linda.
"Exactly," smiled Bab. "David, you remember, is my cousin."