"Ah, say, Mr. Robert!" says I. "Not so rough. I only gave you the usual get-busy line, and if you went and——"
"Wasn't there some advice," he breaks in, "about using my arms?"
"Eh?" says I, gawpin' at him. "You—you didn't open the act by goin' to a clinch, did you?"
He lets his chin drop and sort of shivers. "I'm afraid I did," says he.
"Z-z-z-zingo!" I gasps.
"You see, the part of your suggestions which impressed me most was something to that effect, as I recall it. And then—oh, the deuce take it, I lost my head! Anyway, the next I knew she was in my arms, and I—I was——" He ends with a shoulder shrug and spreads out his hands. "I thought you ought to know," he goes on, "that it isn't being done."
"But what then?" says I. "Did she hand you one?"
"No," says he. "She merely slipped away and—and stood laughing at me. She hardly seemed indignant: just amused."
"Huh!" says I, starin' puzzled. "Then she ain't like any I ever heard of before. Now accordin' to dope she'd either——"
"Miss Hampton is not a conventional young woman," says he. "She made that quite plain. It seems, Torchy, that your—er—that my method was somewhat crude and primitive. In fact, I believe she pointed out that the customs of the Stone Age were obsolete. I was given to understand that she was not to be won in any such manner. Perhaps you can imagine that I was not thoroughly at ease after that."