"Business!" she repeated.
"I said, 'business,'" he retorted.
"Yes," she rejoined; "but you can't prove it."
"Can't eh?" he inquired. "Well, you go back to the wicked metropolis and you'll find that my rent is paid and that a coupon's been cut from one of my bonds. And who did it, I'd like to know?"
"Oh, your secretary, or the janitor, or somebody," returned Elinor, easily. "Not you."
Tom laughed.
"I must have a very negligible reputation for industry in this menage.
How do you think I spend all my time?"
Elinor, arms akimbo, half faced him.
"Well, Mr. Bones," she asked. "How do you spend all your time?"
He grinned at her, friendlily.