"But I don't wish to go there with a hatless man! I can't understand——"
"Well, I'll have to tell you if you drive me to it," he said, looking at her very calmly, but a flush mounted to his cheek-bones; "I have no money—with me."
"Why didn't you say so? How absurd not to borrow it from me——"
Something in his face checked her; then he laughed.
"There's no reason why you shouldn't know how poor I am," he said.
"It doesn't worry me, so it certainly will not worry you. I can't
afford a hat for a few days—and I'll leave you here if you wish.
Why do you look so shocked? Oh, well—then we'll stop at Genin's.
They know me there."
They stopped at Genin's and he bought a hat and charged it, giving his addresses in a low voice; but she heard it.
"Is it becoming?" he asked airily, examining the effect in a glass.
"Am I the bully boy with the eye of glass, Mrs. Paige?"
"You are, indeed," she said, laughing. "Shall we find Celia?"
But they could not find her sister-in-law in the shop, which was now refilling with excited people.
"Celia non est," he observed cheerfully. "The office is closed by this time. May I see you safely to Brooklyn?"