He stood staring at Ruth, who had followed Mrs. Porter into the room.
Mrs. Porter took charge of the situation. She was in her element. She
stood with one hand resting on the table as if she were about to make
an after-dinner speech--as indeed she was.
Lora Delane Porter was not dissatisfied with the turn events had taken.
On the whole, perhaps, it might be said that she was pleased. She
intended, when she began to speak, to pulverize Kirk and the abandoned
young woman whom he had selected as his partner in his shameful
escapade, but in this she was swayed almost entirely by a regard for
abstract morality.
As concerned Ruth, she felt that the situation was, on the whole, the
best thing that could have happened. To her Napoleonic mind, which took
little account of the softer emotions, concerning itself entirely with
the future of the race, Kirk had played his part and was now lagging
superfluous on the stage. His tendency, she felt, was to retard rather
than to assist William Bannister's development. His influence, such as
it was, clashed with hers. She did not forget that there had been a
time when Ruth, having practically to choose between them, had chosen
to go Kirk's way and had abandoned herself to a life which could only
be considered unhygienic and retrograde. Her defeat in the matter of
Whiskers, the microbe-harbouring dog from Ireland, still rankled.
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