"Ah, there's the school, and there's a heap of other things that take your time." Murray had returned to his desk, and Jessie deliberately moved to the window. "It's those things made me want to talk to you. I was wondering how you could fix them so you could hand us a big piece of time up here."
"You want me to work around the store?"
The girl had turned. Her questioning eyes were regarding him steadily. There was no unreality about her manner now. Murray's smile would have been disarming had she not been so used to it.
"Just while I'm—away."
There was the smallest possible twist of wryness to the man's lips as he admitted to himself the necessity for the final words.
"I see."
The girl's relief was so obvious that, for a moment, the man's gaze became averted.
Perhaps Jessie was unaware of the manner in which she had revealed her feelings. Perhaps she knew, and had even calculated it. Much of her mother's courage was hers.
"You'd better make it plain—what you want. Exactly. If it's in the interest of things, why, I'll do all I know."
Murray's remarkable eyes were steadily regarding her again. His mechanical smile had changed its character. It was spontaneous now. But its spontaneity was without any joy.