"I know I shouldn't have done it!" he confessed with appealing frankness. "You'd have found me out anyhow! I don't know anything about gardening. The truth is," his tone grew somber, "I was desperate! I HAD to have work!"
The candor of his smile would have disarmed a stonier-hearted person than Miss Cornelia. But her suspicions were still awake.
"'That's all, is it?"
"That's enough when you're down and out." His words had an unmistakable accent of finality. She couldn't help wanting to believe him, and yet, he wasn't what he had pretended to be--and this night of all nights was no time to take people on trust!
"How do I know you won't steal the spoons?" she queried, her voice still gruff.
"Are they nice spoons?" he asked with absurd seriousness.
She couldn't help smiling at his tone. "Beautiful spoons."
Again that engaging, boyish manner of his touched something in her heart.
"Spoons are a great temptation to me, Miss Van Gorder--but if you'll take me, I'll promise to leave them alone."
"That's extremely kind of you," she answered with grim humor, knowing herself beaten. She went over to ring for Billy.
Lizzie took the opportunity to gain her ear.
"I don't trust him, Miss Neily! He's too smooth!" she whispered warningly.
Miss Cornelia stiffened. "I haven't asked for your opinion, Lizzie," she said.
But Lizzie was not to be put off by the Van Gorder manner.
"Oh," she whispered, "you're just as bad as all the rest of 'em. A good-looking man comes in the door and your brains fly out the window!"
Miss Cornelia quelled her with a gesture and turned back to the young man. He was standing just where she had left him, his cap in his hands--but, while her back had been turned, his eyes had made a stealthy survey of the living-room--a survey that would have made it plain to Miss Cornelia, if she had seen him, that his interest in the Fleming establishment was not merely the casual interest of a servant in his new place of abode. But she had not seen and she could have told nothing from his present expression.
"Have you had anything to eat lately?" she asked in a kindly voice.
He looked down at his cap. "Not since this morning," he admitted as Billy answered the bell.
Miss Cornelia turned to the impassive Japanese. "Billy, give this man something to eat and then show him where he is to sleep."
She hesitated. The gardener's house was some distance from the main building, and with the night and the approaching storm she felt her own courage weakening. Into the bargain, whether this stranger had lied about his gardening or not, she was curiously attracted to him.