Zoie measured Jimmy with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. She resented the
patronising tone that he was adopting. How dare he be cheerful when
she was so unhappy--and because of him, too? She determined that his
self-complacency should be short-lived.
"Alfred has found out that I lied about the luncheon," she said,
weighing her words and their effect upon Jimmy.
"What luncheon?" stuttered Jimmy, feeling sure that Zoie had suddenly
marked him for her victim, but puzzled as to what form her persecution
was about to take.
"What luncheon?" repeated Zoie, trying apparently to conceal her disgust
at his dulness. "OUR luncheon yesterday."
"Why did you LIE," asked Jimmy, his eyes growing rounder and rounder
with wonder.
"I didn't know he KNEW," answered Zoie innocently.
"Knew what?" questioned Jimmy, more and more befogged.
"That I'd eaten with a man," concluded Zoie impatiently. Then she turned
her back upon Jimmy and again dashed up and down the room occupied with
her own thoughts.
It was certainly difficult to get much understanding out of Zoie's
disjointed observations, but Jimmy was doing his best. He followed her
restless movements about the room with his eyes, and then ventured a
timid comment.
"He couldn't object to your eating with me."
"Oh, couldn't he?" cried Zoie, and she turned upon him with a look
of contempt. "If there's anything that he DOESN'T object to," she
continued, "I haven't found it out yet." And with that she threw herself
in a large arm chair near the table, and left Jimmy to draw his own
conclusions.
Jimmy looked about the room as though expecting aid from some unseen
source; then his eyes sought the floor. Eventually they crept to the tip
of Zoie's tiny slipper as it beat a nervous tattoo on the rug. To save
his immortal soul, Jimmy could never help being hypnotised by Zoie's
small feet. He wondered now if they had been the reason of Alfred's
first downfall. He recalled with a sigh of relief that Aggie's feet were
large and reassuring. He also recalled an appropriate quotation: "The
path of virtue is not for women with small feet," it ran. "Yes, Aggie's
feet are undoubtedly large," he concluded. But all this was not solving
Zoie's immediate problem; and an impatient cough from her made him
realise that something was expected of him.
"Why did you lunch with me," he asked, with a touch of irritation, "if
you thought he wouldn't like it?"