Violet brushed Dyker's hair over his eyes and laughed at the effect. Dyker caught the offending hand and kissed it by way of punishment.
"Cassie," he banteringly asked, "why didn't you ever tell me there was such a nice little girl in this house? I had to get the news from a friend on the outside."
He tossed the now grinning negress a dollar and, as soon as she had left them, dropped the farce as promptly as did Violet.
"I say I can't believe you," he resumed, the two spots of anger still glowering in his cheeks.
Violet knew that her whole hope rested upon her ability to force conviction.
"You've got to believe me," she said. "I'll tell you all that you told Miss Rose till I had to run away, that evening."
She did it, omitting scarcely a particular.
"That's right, ain't it?" she concluded.
"May be. But what does that prove? It only shows that you heard me."
"It shows that I can hear Miss Rose when she talks to somebody else. And I did hear her."