advantage--himself--and I pledge myself not to ask one single
question about you, Miss Good. Not one--" He bowed ceremoniously
over her hand. "Although, as you can imagine, I'm dying to ask a
thousand."



CHAPTER VIII

The luncheon hour was long in arriving, and when it did come
around Calvin Gray regretted that he had elected to play a game of
make-believe with "Miss Good," for she rigidly held him to his
promise, and however adroitly he undertook to ascertain who or
what she was, she foiled him. It gave her a mischievous pleasure
to evade his carefully laid conversational traps, and what little
he learned came from Ma Briskow. Briefly, it amounted to this:
Miss Good was what the elder woman called "home folks," but she
had been schooled in the East. Moreover, she was in the oil
business. This last bit of intelligence naturally intrigued the
man, and he undertook to gain further illumination, but only to
have the girl pretend that he knew all about it. He accepted this
checkmate with the best possible grace, but revenged himself by
assuming the airs and privileges of a friend more intimate even
than Miss Good had implied, a pretense that confused and even
annoyed her. For some reason this counterfeit pleased him; it was
extremely agreeable even to pretend a close acquaintance with this
girl.

The luncheon went off gaily enough, then Gray was again banished
with instructions to return at closing time.