“Yes, I do,” he answered. “That is, I saw you drop it yesterday. Probably it belongs really to someone else. Unless—” he smiled—“unless you bought it at a bargain sale? In which case the initial didn’t really matter, I suppose.”
“Will you give it to me?” she asked unsmilingly.
“But it’s such a little thing!” he pleaded earnestly. “You have so many more that surely the loss of this one won’t inconvenience you. And I—I’ve taken a fancy to it.”
“That’s a convenient excuse for theft!” she answered.
“It’s the only one I have to offer,” he replied humbly.
“But—it’s so absurd!” she cried impatiently. “What can you want with it?”
He was silent a moment. She glanced furtively at his face and then moved a few steps toward the house.
“I wonder if you really want me to tell you?” he mused.
“Tell me what?” she asked uneasily.