"Get what settled?" she asked, and was furious with herself because her
voice shook.
"Is Mrs. Porter the mother of the child, or are you? What has Mrs.
Porter to do with it? Why should I ask her permission? How does it
happen to be any business of Mrs. Porter's at all?"
Ruth felt baffled. He was giving her no chance to take the offensive.
There was nothing in his tone which she could openly resent. He was not
shouting at her, he was speaking quietly. There was nothing for her to
do but answer the question, and she knew that her answer would give him
another point in the contest. Even as she spoke she knew that her words
were ridiculous.
"Aunt Lora has been wonderful with him. No child could have been better
looked after."
"I know she has used him as a vehicle for her particular form of
insanity, but that's not the point. What I am asking is why she was
introduced at all."
"I told you. When you were away, Bill nearly----"
"Died. I know. I'm not forgetting that. And naturally for a time you
were frightened. It is just possible that for the moment you lost your
head and honestly thought that Mrs. Porter's methods were the only
chance for him. But that state of mind could not last all the time with
you. You are not a crank like your aunt. You are a perfectly sensible,
level-headed woman. And you must have seen the idiocy of it all long
before I came back.
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