"A man named Mary?—Oh!"
"Well she is more than a man—she's a woman with a level head, who runs my business and knows more about it than I do," replied Updyke without further indication of his attitude toward her.
"Then you'd better marry her at once or some one will come along and steal her, too!" warned the bride.
"If they do they'll have to take a chance they might regret. Mary is an officer of the law and amply able to protect herself," said the big fellow, knowingly.
"George Carver—look at this man! I declare, with all my feminine intuitions, that he is in love!"
Laughter, always a tonic, brought the red to Updyke's face when he saw that he had stumbled into the wrong kind of joking.
"He doesn't deny it, George. See that heightened color in his cheeks?" teased Winifred, her eyes sparkling.
"Well—I own up—just between the three of us, and to go no further," Updyke replied. "I haven't asked her yet."
"Then how do you know she will have you?" demanded Winifred, biting her lower lip in order to look solemn.
"The Updyke System will reach out and gather her in one of these days, when I get my courage to the boiling point," replied the big fellow, chuckling.