Before he could kiss her she slid out of his grasp with a low exclamation of warning, and, looking around, he beheld the Belters, arm-in-arm, approaching across the lawn.
"Fido!" he muttered, "damn!" And he followed his divinity into the house.
CHAPTER XXXII
Helen kept her own council as long as the Belters remained at Runner's Rest, but as soon as they had departed she went to Stephanie's room and made a clean breast of it.
"What on earth do you suppose has happened to me, Steve?" she demanded, standing by the day-bed on which Stephanie was stretched out reading a novel and absorbing chocolates.
"What?" asked Stephanie, lifting her grey eyes.
"Well, there's the very deuce to pay with Phil Grayson. He isn't a bit nice to me. He isn't like himself. He bullies me."
"Why do you let him?"
"I—don't know. I resent it. He's entirely too bossy. He's taken possession of me and he behaves abominably."
"Sentimentally?"