“What’s the matter, Joe?” “Matter—with what?” “You! Has anything happened?” “Oh, no, nothing’s happened.” His words were mincingly soft. “What could happen with such a charming lot of people and Miss Saunders playing the star rôle in the performance and out.” It was Sybil then—he’d been working himself into a bad temper over her treatment of him. Anne had thought it odd he had not mentioned it before: “You’re angry with Sybil, and I don’t think she has been very nice to you. I’ve noticed it, [Pg 82]especially the last three days and this afternoon when we were sitting out there on the rock I tried to make her tell me why.” [Pg 82] He raised his head; the profile sharply defined against the window showed a working muscle in the cheek: “And did she tell you?” “No, she didn’t seem to want to talk about it. She changed the subject.” “How considerate!” “There’s no sense getting annoyed about it because I don’t think she has any reason. You have to make excuses for her. She’s gone through this awful experience and her nerves are all wracked to pieces. You have to be patient and take her as a sort of afflicted person—” He dashed the cane down and jumped to his feet in a volcanic explosion of rage: “I don’t take her that way. I take her for what she is, a damned lying hypocrite.” “Joe!” She was amazed, not so much at the words, as at the suddenness of the outburst and the contorted passion of his face. [Pg 83] [Pg 83] “She thinks she can treat me any way she wants and get away with it. Well, she’ll find her mistake, she’s taken the wrong turning this time. She takes me for a yellow dog she can kick whenever she feels like it. But I got teeth, I can bite. Patient—be patient—God, I’d like to wring her neck, the damned——.” He used an epithet that brought Anne to her feet, breathing battle: “Don’t dare to say that of my friend, Joe Tracy.”
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