silk socks. He was aware of this, but did not allow himself to be
disconcerted.

"I suppose you can guess why I sent for you, Jane-Ellen," he said.

"The dinner was not satisfactory, sir?"

"I doubt if you could cook an unsatisfactory dinner if you tried," he
returned. "No, the trouble is over something that happened an hour or so
before dinner."

"You did not approve, perhaps, of that gentleman, Mr. Tucker, coming
into the kitchen? But, indeed, I could not help that."

"Oh," said Crane, "so Tucker was in the kitchen, was he?"

"Yes, sir, until Brindlebury told him the motor was coming with the
ladies."

"No," said Crane, "the difficulty is over a former visitor of yours. I
think it my right, even my duty to prevent anything happening in this
house of which I disapprove, and I do not approve, Jane-Ellen, of
strangers coming into my house and kissing the cook."

He looked at her squarely as he said this, but her eyes remained fixed
on his feet as she replied docilely:

"Yes, sir. Perhaps it would be better for you to speak to the young man
about it."

"Ah," returned her employer, as one now going over familiar ground, "you
mean to imply that it was not your fault?"

She did not directly answer this question. She said:

"I suppose in your class of life a gentleman would not under any
circumstances kiss a young lady against her will?"

"Well," answered Crane, with some amusement, "he certainly never ought
to do so. And by the way, one of the points about this incident seems to
be that the young man in question had the appearance of being a
gentleman."

"He certainly considers himself so."

There was a pause, then Crane said, seriously:

"I don't want to interfere in your concerns further than I have to, or
to offer you advice--"

"But I should be so glad to have you offer me advice, sir. It is one of
the few things a gentleman may offer a girl in my position and she
accept with a clear conscience."

For the first time Crane looked at her with suspicion. Her tone and look
were demure in the extreme. He decided to go on.

"Well, then," he said, "if I were you I would not have a gentleman,
especially such an impulsive one, hanging about, unless you are engaged
to him with the consent of your family."

She raised her chin, without lifting her eyes.

"It's not the consent of our families that's lacking," she remarked.

"Oh, he's asked you to marry him?"

"Almost every day, sir, until to-day."