temporize.

He looked up in time to see the blood sweeping back into her cheeks;
and almost spoiled the first really good breath she was drawing. In
his lean, bronzed hands he clasped his cup of coffee as if trying to
put a degree of heat into it: "What would be the extra charge for a
shot at that hot tank?" he asked, directing his glance first at the
other tank, then at Kate's burning face.

With all his confidence, he must have been surprised at the revulsion
of manner that greeted him. Kate recovered her poise--her coldness
vanished, a smile broke through her reserve and her confused regret was
promptly expressed: "Did I give you coffee out of the cold tank? How
stupid!"

"And never in my life," said her queer customer, as if continuing her
words, "did I do anything mean to you."

"Oh, yes, you did," objected Kate, coupling nervous haste with the
declaration as she tried to take the cold cup from between his hands.
The ease with which she assumed the role of a lunch-counter waitress
astonished her.

"What did I do?" he drawled, resisting her attempt to make amends.

"You said I couldn't go out that door," she answered, refusing to be
denied the cup.

"I was hoping if you stayed a few minutes, you wouldn't want to." A
moment earlier she would have been indignant. Now she reconciled
herself to necessity. She was, indeed, wildly hoping she might be able
to coax him not to serve any paper. And she had to repress an absurd
laugh at the thought as she set a fresh and steaming cup before him.

While he made ready to drink it she leaned with assured indifference
against the buffet shelf behind her. She spread her left arm and hand
innocently along its edge as she had seen waitresses do--and with her
right hand, toyed with the loose collar of her crepe blouse--chatting
the while like a perfectly good waitress with her suspect. The funny
part seemed to her that he took it all with entire seriousness, hardly
laughing; only a suspicion of a smile, playing at times around his
eyes, relieved the somberness of his lean face. His parted lips showed
regular teeth when he spoke, and gave a not unpleasant expression to
his mouth. His eyes were as inoffensive as a mountain lake.

But there remained something stubborn in his dry manner and at times
her heart misgave her as to the hope of dissuading him from his
purpose. Trying to form some idea of how to act, she studied him with
anxiety. All she could actually r