"I think you clever enough to know it without my telling you."
"I wish you wouldn't say that."
She was still smiling but in the depths of her eyes he felt that the smile was not genuine.
"See here," he said, "I don't want you to think that I don't mean what I say. I do. You're as intelligent a woman as I ever knew. I've known girls more cultivated in general and in particular, but, I say again, that is the hazard of circumstance. Is all clear between us now, Miss West?"
"Yes."
He held out his hand; she glanced up, smiled, and laid her own in it.
And they shook hands heartily.
"Good business," he said with satisfaction. "Don't ever let anything threaten our very charming accord. The moment you don't approve of anything I say or do come straight to me and complain—and don't let me divine it in your eyes, Miss West."
"Did you?"
"Certainly I did. Your lips were smiling but in your eyes was something that did not corroborate your lips."
"Yes…. But how could you see it?"