“Thank you, no, Jerry;” Grace answered. “The fire gives light enough. No; don’t trouble about dinner. You might give us some sandwiches with our tea.”
There was a broad smile on Trenton’s face as he took his cup and sat down near her.
“What’s the joke, Ward?” she asked. She was now finding it easy to call him Ward.
“It’s not a joke; I was just admiring your manner of addressing Jerry. It was quite perfect. He was greatly impressed by it.”
“Oh, was that it! What did you expect me to do—snap at him?”
“No; I was only thinking how charming you’d be as the lady of a great house. Your slaves would worship you. Jerry caught the idea too; I never saw him bow so low.”
“Jerry’s adorable,” she murmured, her eyes flashing her appreciation of Trenton’s compliment. “But, really I must look awful; my hair’s in a mess. I’ll run upstairs and give it a smoothing as soon as we’ve had tea.”
“Please don’t! I like it that way. The dark frame for your face adds a charm that’s bewildering!”
“What did Tommy mean about Cummings?” she asked presently. “Isn’t the Cummings business prospering?”
“Tommy must know what he’s talking about. He never quite loses his head even when he’s drunk. These are anxious times and it’s quite possible that Cummings is hard up. Tommy can afford to feel easy because he’s well off even without his manufacturing business. I’ve got to do something about Tommy, though,” he went on thoughtfully. “His New York doctor told me he’ll have to stop his monkey shines or something unpleasant will happen to him. While I’m here I’m going to try to get him to submit to treatment. But he’s not easy to manage—frankly says he prefers a short life and a merry one. We’ve got to save Tommy if we can.”