This remark seemed to please him immensely.
"What a sly old chap you are," said he; "really, I shall have to go back to the inn and watch you."
"What the deuce do you mean?" I demanded.
He looked me over in well-bred astonishment and replied:
"Hang me, Crocker, if I can make you out. You seem to know the world pretty well, and yet when a fellow twits you on a little flirtation you act as though you were going to black his eyes."
"A little flirtation!" I repeated, aghast.
"Oh, well," he said, smiling, "we won't quarrel over a definition. Call it anything you like."
"Don't you think this a little uncalled for?" I asked, beginning to lose my temper.
"Bless you, no. Not among friends: not among such friends as we are."
"I didn't know we were such devilish good friends," I retorted warmly.