"Don't be rude to your only uncle," said Nan.
She was slipping off her coat and Raven judged, seeing her so calm, that her evening pleased her.
"Mother in there?" Raven inquired of Dick.
He had hung up the pilfered coat and hat, with great nicety of care, in the hall closet.
"No," said Dick. "She's gone to bed."
The implication was that she shouldn't have been allowed to get bored enough to go to bed.
"I'm going, too," said Nan. She gave her hand to Raven. "'Night, Rookie." Then she apparently remembered Dick, and shook her head at him. "Silly!" she commented. "Nobody'll love you if you behave like that."
Dick did not answer. He turned about and went into the library, and Raven following, after he had seen Nan at the top of the stairs, found him reading a day-old paper with a studied absorption it was evident he was far from feeling.