Artlessly
he babbled the story, and Howard Snelling, listening, constructed a
good part of the romance interwoven with it from the young man's color
and irritation.
"So there were two beauties in the case!" commented he, when the tale
was finished.
"There were two silver buckles," came sharply from Bob.
"Which amounts to the same thing," smiled the New Yorker.
Robert Morton vouchsafed no reply.
"Have your friends the Galbraiths met this--other lady?" asked Snelling
insinuatingly.
"No, not yet."
"I see."
There was something offensive in the observation; something, too, that
compelled Robert Morton even against his will to add with dignity:
"I am expecting to take Miss Hathaway over to see them some day soon."
He told himself, as he uttered the words, that he owed Howard Snelling
no explanation and that it was ridiculous of him to make one;
nevertheless he felt impelled to do so.
Mr. Snelling smiled superciliously.
"That will be very pleasant, won't it?" he remarked.
One could not have quarreled with the sentiment, but its blandness
conveyed an exasperating disbelief.
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