Gertrude swept his face with a searching look.
“Under ordinary circumstances,” she repeated. “I think I do not quite understand you.”
“Well, then, to be plain, it rather tries my temper to have you waste your time and breath on that upstart,” he replied, with some irritation.
The girl turned upon him sharply.
“Do you still cherish that old-time animosity against him?” she gravely inquired.
“Well, I certainly do not love him,” was the moody response.
Gertrude drew herself up proudly, and her eyes flashed.
“I am ashamed of you, Phil—I really am, for nursing such a spirit all these years. I cannot understand it when you owe him so much. But if Mr. Faxon is an ‘upstart,’ I only wish that the world was full of just such people.”
“Which, I might infer, would shove me out entirely. Thanks, awfully,” sneered her companion.