"That's flattering to me. Listen, Jim, I'm coming to see you."
"I've told you a thousand times it can't be done——"
"Do you mean that no woman has ever been in your apartments?"
"You can't come," he repeated obstinately. "If you do, it ends my interest in your various sorrows. I mean it, Elena."
She laughed: "I only wanted to be sure that you are still afraid of caring too much for me. Somebody told me a very horrid thing about you. It was probably a lie—as long as you are still afraid of me."
He closed his eyes patiently and leaned his elbow on the desk, waiting for her to go on or to ring off.
"Was it a lie, Jim?"
"Was what a lie?"
"That you are entertaining a very pretty girl at Silverwood House—unchaperoned?"
"Do you think it likely?"