The girl’s mouth drooped, but her eyes were laughing. Then, as Kate still remained quiet, she inquired:
“Wasn’t I a fool?”
Kate suddenly looked up from the brown study into which she had fallen. Her big eyes looked straight across at Bill, and she ignored Helen’s final remark.
“Thanks, Bill,” she said quietly. And her last suggestion of displeasure seemed to pass with her expression of gratitude. “I’m glad you were here, and”—she smiled—“you can fight. You nearly killed him.” Then, after a pause: “It’s been a lesson to me. I—shan’t forget it.”
“What have you—done to him?” cried Helen suddenly.
But Kate shook her head.
“Let’s talk of something else. There’s things far more important than—him. Anyway, he won’t do that again.”
She rose from her seat and moved to the window, where she stood looking out. But she had no interest in what she beheld. She was thinking moodily of other things.
Bill stirred in his chair. He was glad enough to put the episode behind him.
“Yes,” he said, taking up Kate’s remark at once. “There certainly are troubles enough to go around.” He was thinking of his scene of the previous day with his brother. “But—but what’s gone wrong with you, Kate? What are the more important things?”