"Is that a tribute or a reproach?" came her gay voice over the wire. "I don't quite know how to take it!"
"Reassure yourself, Steve. You were most circumspect and emotionless——"
"Jim! That is brutal and untrue! I was not circumspect!"
"You were the other, then."
"What a perfectly cruel and outrageous slander! You've made me unhappy, now. And all day I've been so absolutely happy in thinking of what happened."
"Is that true?" he asked in an altered voice.
"Of course it's true!"
"You just said you were ashamed——"
"I was, very, very slightly; but I've been too happy to be very much ashamed!"
"You darling!——"