Tucker could not catch the answer which was made in a deep masculine voice, but it was easy to guess its import from the reply of Jane-Ellen.
"Oh, I"m glad to see you, too."
Another murmur.
"How do you expect me to show it?"
A murmur.
"Don"t be absurd, Ranny." And she added quite audibly: "If you really want proof, I"ll give it to you. I was just thinking I needed some one to help me freeze the ice-cream. Give it a turn or two, will you, like a dear?"
It was obvious that the visitor was of a docile nature, for presently the faint regular squeak of an ice-cream freezer was heard. His heart was not wholly in his work, however, for soon he began to complain.
Tucker gathered that the freezer was set outside the kitchen door, and that the visitor now had to raise his voice slightly in order to be heard in the kitchen, for both speakers were audible.
"Yes," said the visitor, "that"s the way you are. You expect every one to work for you."
"Don"t you enjoy working for me, Ranny? You"ve always said it was the one thing in the world gave you pleasure."
"Humph," returned the other grimly, "I don"t know that I am so eager to freeze Crane"s ice-cream."
"And Mr. Tucker"s, don"t forget him."
"Who the deuce is Tucker?"
The listener above sat up and leaned forward eagerly.
"Tucker," said Jane-Ellen, "is our guest at present. He"s my favorite and Willoughby"s. He has what you might call a virile, dominating personality. Please don"t turn so fast, or you"ll ruin the dessert."
"How did you ever come in contact with Tucker, I should like to know.
Does he come into the kitchen?"
"Not yet."
"How did you see him at all?"
"Owing to his kicking Willoughby down the stairs."
"And you mean to say you stood for that? Why, my dear girl, if any one had told me--"
"Cruel, perhaps, Ranny, but the action of a strong man."
"I think it"s a great mistake," said the masculine voice in a tone of profound displeasure, "for a girl situated as you are to have anything to do with her employer and his guests. What do you know about these fellows? How old is this Tucker?"
"Oh, about forty, I should think."
The listener"s eyes brightened by ten years.
"What does he look like?"
"Oh, people are so difficult to describe, Ranny."
"You can describe them all right when you try."
"Well," ... Tucker"s excitement became intense ... "well, he looks like the husband on the stage with a dash of powder above the ears, who wins the weak young wife back again in the last act."
With a long deep breath, Tucker rose to his feet. He felt like a different man, a strong, dangerous fellow.
"Dear girl," said the masculine voice below him, "you"re not going to let this man make love to you."
"Oh, Ranny, he"s never tried. He"s much too dignified and reserved."
"But if he did try, you would not let him?"
"You, if any one, ought to know that it isn"t always easy to prevent."
"I don"t know what you mean by that. You"ve always prevented me, as often as you wanted to."
"Often, but not as often as that. There, Ranny, do get on with the ice-cream. That terrible old woman is coming to stay this evening with her daughter, and you may be sure she"ll have us all turned out if everything isn"t just right."
"Crane is supposed to be engaged to the daughter," said the male voice.
"Well, I don"t envy him his mother-in-law."
"What do you think of Crane?"
There was a pause. At first Tucker feared he might have missed the answer, but presently the question was repeated.
"I asked you what you thought of Crane."
"Oh, I"ve seen a good many young men of that type in my time," was the reply.
"How strange women are," remarked the ice-cream maker, who had now once again settled down to work. "I should have thought Crane just the man to attract women, well built, good-looking, a splendid horseman--"
"Would you say good-looking?" asked the cook. Tucker had been putting exactly the same question to himself.
But the speaker did not intend to answer it, he went on with his own train of thought: "And here you go into raptures over an old fellow, old enough to be your father--"
"Should you say I went into raptures?"
"You talk as if you were prepared to make an idol of the man."
A pleasant laugh greeted this statement. Tucker grew grave. He did not feel that he thoroughly understood the cause of that laugh, but he took refuge in that comfortable and all-embracing theory that women were fond, unaccountable creatures, particularly when deeply moved.
Another explanation was offered by the man below.
"I believe you are just trying to tease me, Jane-Ellen."
"_Trying_, Ranny?"