"No, we got past that."
"Oh, yes; well, then, you say it was because of me. Why?"
"I told you I didn't know exactly why; but the root of it all was you.... And when you told me about some people who had come here—that fellow who spoke about a housekeeper——"
"Jim Edgerton!"
"What!"
"I believe—but you can't be as nice as that! You simply can't!"
"Oh, I'm not nice," he protested, reddening; but she interrupted:
"You are! I certainly believe you thought that Silvie and I required somebody masculine in our vicinity—to throw the housekeeping man downstairs, for example. Did you?"
"No. I only——"
"Did you?"