A look of pain crossed Martha's face. "It's an awful way to believe, Jeany. I hate to think——"
"Then must I give up my beliefs and take things as they are?"
Martha wiped the last grain of flour from the table, washed out the cloth and hung it on the rack to dry.
"Some women should never marry."
Jean looked quickly at her mother and then away. After a moment she said gayly:
"All of which has nothing to do with the question in hand, Mummy Norris, and that is that you go to the doctor and get a tonic or I'll come and take you myself."
Martha agreed that she would go, and the subject of "holy matrimony" and "separate interests" was dropped.
But as Jean crossed back to the city she decided that she would ask Herrick what his vacation plans were and, if possible, arrange her own to meet them.
Herrick was leaving the studio as Jean entered. He stared in such surprise that Jean felt uncomfortable.
"I knocked off early this afternoon and went over to mummy's," she explained. "She hasn't been well and I've been worried. I thought maybe we might go to dinner somewhere, or we could have it here."