"You keep out of this," snarled Lindsay, stepping forward.
"I'm not staying out of it. It happens to be some of my business,
too. Lacy, this may hurt, but it needs explaining. Lindsay, I'm not a
soft-hearted bird. I'm not even soft-headed. But if any man ever needed
the affection of a woman, Tom Lacy does, did, and will. And if I had
mother, wife, or sister that refused to try to straighten Lacy out, I'd
cut her throat! I've made a lot of crude jokes about the fact that she
married you because of your money or friends, but they were just crude
jokes that I'd not have made if she hadn't been so completely Mrs.
Ralph Lindsay that mere mention of anything else was funny. And you
can scream or you can laugh about it, but whatever she did down in the
galley, I say, makes a better woman of her!" Then Grant smiled queerly
and turned to Lacy. "You lucky dog," he grinned. "She never tried to
kiss me!"