Susan could have kissed the top of Billy's rumpled head for the tactful close. She had thrown her pride to the winds to-night, but she loved him for remembering it.
"But he would think that I cared!" she objected.
"Let him! That won't hurt you. Simply say that your aunt disapproves of your being so much with him, and stop short."
Billy went on working, and Susan shuffled her pack for a new game.
"Thank you, Bill," she said at last, gratefully. "I'm glad I told you."
"Oh, that's all right!" said William, gruffly.
There was a silence until Mary Lou came in, to rip up her old velvet hat, and speculate upon the clangers of a trip to Virginia City.