There was a little silence, then Feathers said quietly:
"Mrs. Lawless, why do you talk like that? You know quite well you never thought anything of the sort."
She flushed hotly at the rebuke in his words and answered sharply:
"I forgot that you were Chris' friend. Of course, you are bound to defend him. I wonder why men always defend one another?"
Feathers smiled rather grimly.
145 "Perhaps it's a case of thieves hanging together," he said. "But you do him an injustice if you think that women have the least attraction for him—you do, indeed! And, as to being his friend . . ." he hesitated, "I think, perhaps, I am more your friend than his."
"And yet you hated it when he married me," she said impulsively.
"Perhaps I am still unreconciled to that," he said.
"What do you mean?"
He looked down at her from beneath his shaggy brows. "I am going to answer that question by asking another. Why did you take such a violent dislike to me the first night we met?"