"Your imagination is at fault there, Mr.
Thane," she said, smiling once more. "I never went barefooted in
my life."
"At any rate, HE did. And he played all sorts of games with you;
he--"
"My impression of David Strong is that he was a boy's boy," she broke
in rather stiffly. "His games were with the boys of the town,--and
they were rough games. Football, baseball, shinney, circus,--things
like that."
"I don't mean sports, Miss Crown. I was thinking of those wonderful
boy and girl games,--such as 'playing house,' 'getting married,'
'hide-and-go-seek,'--all that sort of thing."
"Yes, I know," she admitted. "We often played at getting married,
and we had very large but inanimate families, and we quarrelled
like real married people, and I used to cry and take my playthings
home, and he used to stand outside our fence and make faces at me
till I hated him ferociously. But all that was when we were very
small, you see."
"And as all such things turn out, I suppose he grew up and went
off and got married to some one else."
"He is not married, Mr. Thane."
"Well, for that matter, neither are you," said he, leaning forward,
his eyes fixed intently on hers. She did not flinch. "I wonder just
how you feel toward him today, Miss Crown."
She was incapable of coquetry. "We are not the best of friends,"
she said quietly. "Now, if you please, let us talk of something
else.
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