“Gee! How else could I save you from Alvin Short?”
“But, Billy, that—that is not exactly a reason for—for—”
“Don’t you care for me? Wasn’t that what you meant that night I—I kissed you?”
“Oh, yes, I care for you, Billy; ever so much; but I never got as far as an engagement. I—”
“But that kiss—”
“Oh, I just thought you kissed me because—well—because—Oh, Billy, do you tell your mother everything?”
He caught the anxiety in her speech, and wondered if kisses of the sort he had given her were so common in her life that she could dismiss them with merely a “because.” But his reply was to her question only.
“’Most everything. You see I’m just the common transparent sort,—she reads me anyway. But of course I didn’t tell her about you; that’s your secret. I shall not tell that till you give me leave.”
She caught up his hand in both her own. “I believe you’re the best boy that ever lived.”
“Boy! That’s just what I am! And you need a man, right now, to protect you.”