Page:Dangerous Business (1927).pdf/155

 Lida. He thought of her urging him away, hoping he'd be through with his father, and that his father would have refused him, in time to catch the Century to-day to New York—on her money, as an English husband might have done.

He smiled, looking down into Ellen's eyes; and she crimsoned with confusion and drew back, thinking he was laughing at her. He was laughing at Lida's slave psychology with her opinion of Chicago and work. He wanted to tell Ellen Powell of it and say that he was not laughing at her, but he could not do this so he turned it into a smile at himself.

"Am I growing up a little?" he asked Ellen.

"A little," said Ellen; and in her confusion, fled.