I've been smiling just to make it easy for you to
understand that I know how to lose, if it has to come to that. And do
you suppose I'd have let you weep into my handkerchief, if I'd been
half way certain, even? Do you? Because I wouldn't. I have a pair of
arms and two shoulders that have been reserved for that
purpose--reserved, oh, for years and years."
Barbara had lifted the handkerchief again. The explanation which Steve
had begun in half-assumed soberness ended in drawling, unmistakable
gravity.
"Perhaps it wasn't a particularly good parallel to use," he went on,
even more slowly, when she failed to answer. "I only wanted to make
you see--to have you know----"
Her brown head flashed up then, radiantly eloquent of entire
understanding.
"It was a very good parallel," she defended spiritedly. "I liked it
immensely. I was thinking that some day when I get involved with
Miriam in a particularly erudite discussion, I'd employ it myself. But
just now the one point which interests me most is this. Did--did Fat
Joe win?"
His single quick word that checked Ragtime brought her roan mount also
to a standstill. Lightly Steve swung out and took both her gloved
hands in a grip that made her draw back a little.
"If you weren't the _girl_ to whom I'd just told my love," he stated,
"I'd be telling you, right now, that I like you best of all the _men_ I
know!" He sat and looked at her.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195