Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/206

 "Well, will you?" She looked at him, her head slightly on one side.

"Will I what?" he queried.

"You really are the most provoking person I ever met," she cried in mock despair.

"That's exactly what Aunt Caroline says," he remarked easily. "Only she puts it more pithily. She just says, 'Richard, you're a fool.'"

"But you are rather trying, you know, aren't you?" She looked at him smilingly, her head still a little on one side, as if desirous of coaxing from him the admission.

"And if she gets still further exasperated," he continued, "she adds, 'You always were a fool.' My folly has become something of a family tradition. Even Drew frankly confesses that I'm a fool, although, out of the kindness of his heart, he modifies it somewhat by adding that he regards me as a pleasant sort of fool."

"I wish I knew when you were serious." She regarded him with a comical expression of uncertainty on her face.

"Never, if I can help it;" then suddenly leaning towards her, he said, "Yes, I'll be serious now. I'm serious when I tell you that I've been happier during the last nine days than in all the rest of my life before. I'm serious when I tell you how I value your comradeship," his voice shook a little. "I'm serious when I tell you that it has meant a lot to me to be taken on trust, as you have taken me. You have been splendid, Rain-Girl, more splendid than