I admire her tremendously.
"In the beginning I said she could watch out for herself, and I
intimated that I was reasonably indifferent to what happened to you: it
is Claire I am concerned about. Unfortunately for her, and without much
reason, she loves you too. When Mina is done with you and you stray
back, from, perhaps, South America, Claire won't be here. I don't mean
that she will have gone away, or be dead in the familiar sense. I
haven't any doubt but that she would live with you again--she is not
small-minded and she's far more unconventional than you--what there was
of her."
"If you or anyone else thinks that I don't admire Claire--" he stopped
desperately. "We won't get far talking," Peyton added; "even if all you
have said is a fact. You can't hit on much that I've missed. You might
just as well curse me and let me go."
"Nothing of the sort," Lee Randon returned equably; "that's exactly
what I have no intention of doing. In the interest of Claire I must try
to open your eyes." The younger man said indignantly:
"You talk as though I were a day-old kitten. It's cursed impertinent: I
don't seem to remember asking for so much advice."
* * * * *
Throughout their conversation they were both holding the plates of
sausage and scrambled eggs, from which rose a pungent odor, inevitable
to the occasion. And, in a silence which fell upon them, Lee realized
the absurdity of their position behind the door.
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