“No, thank y’u. I have finished. Yes, that ce’tainly seems harmless. I didn’t know but I had been telling secrets.” Still his unwavering eyes rested quietly on her.
“Secrets?” She summoned her aplomb to let a question rest lightly in the face she turned toward him, though she was afraid she met his eyes hardly long enough for complete innocence “Why, yes, secrets.” He measured looks with her deliberately before he changed the subject, and he knew again the delightful excitement of victory. “Are y’u going to read to me this evening?”
She took his opening so eagerly that he smiled, at which her color mounted again.
“If y’u like. What shall I read?”
“Some more of Barrie’s books, if y’u don’t mind. When a fellow is weak as a kitten he sorter takes to things that are about kids.”
Nora came in and cleared away the supper things. She was just beginning to wash them when McWilliams and Denver dropped into the kitchen by different doors. Each seemed surprised and disappointed at the presence of the other. Nora gave each of them a smile and a dishcloth.
“Reddy, he’s shavin’ and Frisco’s struggling with a biled shirt—I mean with a necktie,” Denver hastily amended. “They’ll be along right soon, I shouldn’t wonder.”
“Y’u better go tell the boys Miss Nora don’t want her kitchen littered up with so many of them,” suggested his rival.
“Y’u’re foreman here. I don’t aim to butt into your business, Mac,” grinned back the other, polishing a tea plate with the towel.
“I want to get some table linen over to Lee Ming to-night,” said Nora, presently.