The smile broke again on Bertram’s face.
“Well, it has its funny side,” he admitted. “All right. If refinement’s the game, me to it.” His smile had caught Kate’s laugh, and there came between them a kind of mental 193 click. Soft gratitude sprang into his heart and quivered on his lips.
“You’re a bully girl! I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you to talk it over with. And you really do understand lots about women and those things—where did you learn it?”
The smile went out of Kate. She drooped her eyes and let her pink nails flutter on the tablecloth.
“Suffering and experience, I suppose.”
“Could I—would you tell me about it?”
She looked up with an air of sweet sincerity.
“I should like very much to tell you. You could help me as much as you say I’m helping you. Some other time, we’ll have that all out together. You see, when one has held a thing in her heart for a long time—well, it’s a struggle at first to get it out. But sometime when I’m in the mood!”
And then he discovered that an appointment at the office was overdue. While they went through the formalities of checks and wraps, she talked foolish nothings. He parted with her hurriedly to run after a Market Street cable car. 194
“We’re going to be the best chums in the world,” he said as he shook hands.