"You haven't spent any since you met Mother, have you?" she suggested maliciously.
"Don't tease me! I'm in earnest. Why will you be so silly?"
"Are you proposing that I accept a gift of some of your new riches?"
"I would never marry a man that pitied me."
"Oh, Kate!" he said, graveled and reproachful. "How silly!"
Then he got his wind again. "That's only putting me off. What's pity got to do with it or anything? I just want you!"
"Why didn't you ask me when you were poor?" she murmured.
"How could I? I could scarcely keep myself."
"Oh, Kitty! How unjust! You take a delight in putting me in the wrong!"
"It's no use," she said with a firm shake of the head. "I haven't changed since yesterday. If you insist on bringing this up every day, it will only have the effect of spoiling my naturally amiable temper. Let's change the subject. Tell me all your adventures since yesterday."
But if she was cruel in other respects, she made a rare listener. Her eyes sparkled and her soft cheeks glowed with excitement as his tale unfolded. When the devilish workings of the blackmailing scheme were made clear to her, her indignation knew no bounds.
"The wretches! The _beasts_!" she murmured. "Oh, they must not be allowed to go free. That poor, lonely old man! It is fine of you to pledge yourself to run them down. It's a crusade in a way, isn't it--and a dangerous one!" She gave him an extraordinary look through her lashes. "Come to me after you have done your work," she murmured, "and perhaps my answer will be different!"
"Oh, Kate!" he said, reaching for her hand.
She neatly evaded him. "Afterwards, I said. Now tell me what you mean to do."
"I wish I could help!" she said involuntarily.
Jack had a dazzling inspiration. It must have been his good fairy that sent him that lovely idea all complete and ready to work. "Why, you can help!" he cried.
He made out, of course, that the idea had been in his head all the time. "Listen. As Jack Norman's secretary I'm bound to become a pretty well-known figure around town, and it stands to reason I can't do much sleuthing in that character. I've get to have a disguise. I've got to lead a double life. I'll work while Bobo sleeps."
"Yes, but what has that got to do with me?"