.

.

.

And every time you try your dirty bucket-shop methods on boys like that, I'll do the same." He swore at her quite calmly; she smiled, shrugged, and, imprisoning her knees in her clasped hands, leaned back and looked at him.
"What a ninny I have been," she said, "to be afraid of you so long!" A gleam crossed his faded eyes, but he let her remark pass for the moment.

Then, when he was quite sure that violent emotion had been exhausted within him: "Do you want your bills paid ?" he asked.