"I won't let you go back!" she cried.
"That was a nice trick to play on a man!" he told her indignantly.
"And that's a man gratitude!" she retorted bitterly.
"Gratitude! I know you meant well, and I thank you. But it looks as if I had hidden behind your skirts, and I am not that kind of a man. I am going back."
"You are not. I won't have any trouble between you and the boys to-day. You said you didn't want to make trouble. Well, then, don't."
"I don't want to make trouble, but I am not going to run away from it. If your brothers want to take up their father's quarrel—and I am not saying they haven't the right to, mind you—I will meet them half way. I am not going to be hunted by them in a pack. I don't have to be rounded up. If there is going to be trouble I am going to have some say about the time of it."
"And so am I," Kathleen declared. "I will put a stop to this."
"Men's affairs must be settled by men," he told her.
"I believe you are all savages at heart," she said. "This will blow over if you will let it. Whether you like it or not, I am going to interfere. I blame Blake for this."
"You may be right. I had to put him out of Faith's house the other night. He was drunk."