set her blood beating with curiosity
He laughed too, holding her eyes. "Oh, out of sight! The Consolidation set me on my feet. I own pretty near the whole of Apex. I came down to buy these tapestries for my private car."
The familiar accent of hyperbole exhilarated her. "I don’t suppose I could stop you if you really wanted them!"
"Nobody can stop me now if I want anything."
They were looking at each other with challenge and complicity in their eyes. His voice, his look, all the loud confident vigorous things he embodied and expressed, set her blood beating with curiosity. "I didn’t know you and Rolliver were friends," she said.
"Oh JIM–" his accent verged on the protective. "Old Jim’s all right. He’s in Congress now. I’ve got to have somebody up in Washington." He had thrust his hands in his pockets, and with his head thrown back and his lips shaped to the familiar noiseless whistle, was looking slowly and discerningly about him.
Presently his eyes reverted to her face. "So this is what I helped you to get," he said. "I’ve always meant to run over some day and take a look. What is it they call you–a Marquise?"
She paled a little, and then flushed again. "What made you do it?" she broke out abruptly. "I’ve often wondered."
He laughed. "What–lend you a hand? Why, my business instinct, I suppose. I saw you were in a tight place that time I ran across you in Paris–and I hadn’t any grudge against you. Fact is, I’ve never had the time to nurse old scores, and if you neglect ’em they die off like gold-fish." He was still composedly regarding her. "It’s funny to think of your having settled down to this kind of life; I hope you’ve got what you wanted. This is a great place you live in."
"Yes; but I see a little too much of it. We live here most of the year." She had meant to give him the illusion of success, but some underlying community of instinct drew the confession from her lips.
Processing your request, Please wait....
