"I won't," replied Martha. "You can't talk to me in that condition.
I'm going to bed."
Emily saw Bob start towards Martha. She thought he was intending
seizing her by the arm, pulling her into the room, making her listen.
So she sank down into a chair.
"Bob!" she cried, "come here!" and she began crying.
He let Martha go up the stairs. He came and stood raging near Emily.
"Don't you worry! I'll put an end to this. I'll settle her yet.
Don't cry. I'll put some sense into that girl's head. She's not
going to take married men up to her bedroom in this house!"
"Bob, stop it! That's not her bedroom! You just make things worse!"
"I make things worse, do I?"
"Yes, you do! It's bad enough to have this thing going on! But you
go and quarrel with her. You never can stop it this way! The
sillier she is, the wiser we have to be. Oh, we must be careful! I
won't have you saying such things to each other!"
"What are you blaming _me_ for? You said you'd tell her to quit
this, and that's all the good it's done us. Everybody'll be
wondering why the blinds were down when we're away."
"Oh, I wish you hadn't done that! I wish--you looked as if you were
intending to knock him down, Bob!"
"I _did_ intend to! He's lucky! If he comes hanging around here, I
will beat him up. What business has he got in this house at
midnight?"
Emily was rising. She wiped her eyes. "I'll go up and talk to her,"
she said.
When she came into the painted room, Martha, who was sitting on a day
bed, looked at her in surprise, and said, shortly: "What are you
crying about? Did he do anything to you?" She spoke as if her
father might have struck her mother.
"I was crying because you're so--because you speak that way to your
father. I can't stand it, Martha!"
"You ought to have got me a civilized father, then--a human being. I
get so mad at him!"
"You've got to stop it! I'm not going to live in a house with you
two quarreling all the time."
"Oh, I'll clear out! I'm not anxious to stay. You wait till I'm
twenty!"
"Martha, you needn't act this way. You needn't try to make out
you're the offended one. Did you know he was coming here to-night?"
Martha looked at her mother defiantly. She hesitated. She was a
truthful child, at least. She said, shortly, after a second, "Yes, I
did."
"Did you ask him? Did you arrange to have him come when we were
away?"
"You never asked me questions like this about other people."
"I want to know, Martha."
"Yes, I did. I asked him."
"You know I didn't want you to do that."
"You told me not to appear in public with him, mother. I didn't
appear in public. I minded you. I don't see anything to be ashamed
of. I don't see why we should keep it secret. He wanted to see me,
and I wanted to talk to him. I knew you wouldn't understand it. You
just insist on misjudging him. You won't try to get acquainted with
him. I knew dad would make a fool of himself if he saw him here."
"What did he need to see you about?"
"Well, I--I don't know why--I don't know what right---- If I'd been
ashamed of myself, I could have sent him home before you came, and
you'd never even have known he'd been here."
Emily went over and sat down by Martha. She put her arm around her.
She tried to pull her close against her, but Martha was for sitting
erect, stiffly. Her attitude made Emily's coaxing tone futile.
"Martha, he didn't have any business here. He knew he wasn't welcome
here. Unless he's absolutely stupid, he understood that before daddy
said a word to him. If he was a decent man he would never have come
or he would have gone earlier."