"Aren't we friends?" he said with an air of surprise.
She sadly shook her head. "You know we're not! You distrust me, dislike me; you cannot hide it!"
"It's not so!" said Jack. "I've already explained what it is that you think is dislike. You put a man on the defensive. You've already gobbled up poor Bobo, skin and bones and hymn-book, too! I've got to be careful!"
"Oh, you won't be serious!" she pouted. "And you saw how I lied to get the chance of speaking to you alone."
"Poor Bobo! I'll be serious. What is it?"
"Oh, it's nothing special! I just wanted to see if I couldn't bring about a better understanding between you and me. It's awfully hard on Bobo, who is such friends with both of us--that you and I can't get on better I mean."
"Let's have a better understanding!" said Jack heartily. Privately he was thinking: "Lovely lady, what are you driving at now?"
"Bobo is such a dear," she went on, "but he's terribly dependent. He depends on you, and now he's beginning to depend on me! Well, it seems to me that we share a pretty serious responsibility, his having all that money and all. We ought to consult about what we should do, and agree on a course of action. If you and I pull against each other, Bobo will be torn in two, so to speak."
Jack looked seriously impressed, but inwardly he was grinning wickedly. "Ha!" he thought, "having failed in her effort to kick me out she is now proposing in diplomatic language that we get together and whack up." Aloud he said: "I expect you're right, though I hadn't thought of it that way. I thought I would take care of Bobo's business affairs, and you would look after his personal character."
"But under altered circumstances it might be difficult," she said darkly.
"Don't be dense. I suppose you know that Bobo wants to marry me."
Jack never batted an eye. "I can't say that I am exactly surprised. Nor that I blame him," he added gallantly.
"Be serious. Of course I haven't accepted him yet. I have to be sure of my own feelings."
Jack stroked his lip to hide a grim smile.
"Have you any objection to his marrying me?" she asked boldly.
"Then why did you try to poison his mind against me?"
Jack thought: "Oh, Bobo! Bobo! I'm glad I didn't tell you all." To her he said with seeming astonishment: "I! Poison his mind against you! What an idea!"