Privately Janetta thought that this would be no drawback, but she did not care to make objections, so turned once more and walked on silently.
"I want to speak to you," said the man, presently, with something of a shamefaced air, "about the little scene you came upon this afternoon——"
"Yes," said Janetta. She did not know how contemptuously her lips curled as she said the word.
"You came at an unfortunate moment," he went on, awkwardly enough. "I was about to interpose; I should not have allowed Jack Strangways to go too far. Of course you thought that I did not care."
"Yes," said Janetta, straightforwardly. Wyvis bit his lip.
"I am not quite so thoughtless of my son's welfare," he said, in a firmer tone. "There was enough in that glass to madden a child—almost to kill him. You don't suppose I would have let him take that?"
"I don't know. You were offering no objection to it when I came in."
"Do you doubt my word?" said Wyvis, fiercely.
"No. I believe you, if you mean really to say that you were not going to allow your little boy to drink what Mr. Strangways offered him."
"I do mean to say it"—in a tone of hot anger.