He leaned his elbows on his desk, judicially. "I'm pretty much knocked edgeways, Henry--but tell me one more thing; this wasn't any bet, was it, or--"
"Bet!" flared Henry, and all the youth went out of his features.
"Yes. Nobody _dared_ you to go and get married--it wasn't any kind of a put-up job, was it?"
The younger man was righteously indignant. "Uncle John, I admit I haven't won any medals for--for _some_ things,--and maybe you think I _am_ the kind of bird that would--do this on a bet, or a dare--and if you _do_ think that--I guess we're _both_ mistaken in each other!"
His uncle's hand went up. "Hold your horses! You've answered the question. If you hadn't got mad, I'd have thrown you out the window. Why _did_ you do it, then?... No--never mind." He looked away. "_I_ know. Spring, and impulse and no emergency brakes. _I_ know...." He looked back at Henry, and smiled oddly. "And I was just goin' to tell you, before you sprung it on me, that if you cared two cents about that girl,--and me, too,--you'd want to deserve her:--do somethin' besides be a model to hang expensive clothes on."
"Yes," said Henry, also judicial. "I guess I'm entitled to that wallop."
His uncle nodded. "That one and quite a few more. Still, you never heard anybody accuse me of not bein' a good sport, did you?"
"Just Bob Standish. We took him along for a witness."
"So! Bob Standish! Hm. I'd have thought Bob'd had sense enough to try to stop it. I'll have words with him."
His uncle froze. "Out there? Waitin' there all this time? For Heaven's sake, Henry, she'll be in a conniption fit! You go bring her in here--and tell her to stop worryin'. I'm sore as the devil, and I'm goin' to make an example out of you, but that ain't any reason to act like a grouch, is it? Sound sensible to you? Bring her in here. Not Bob--I'll see him afterwards."
She was small and intensely feminine, but there was nothing fragile about her, and no slightest hint of helplessness. She was pretty enough, too, and her attractions were more than skin-deep; to the qualities which showed in her eyes--sincerity and humour and imagination--there was also to be added sweetness of disposition and sensitiveness, which were proved by the curves of her mouth; and finally, there was quiet determination, stopping just short of stubbornness, which was evident in the moulding of her strong little chin.