“Do you enjoy being humored?” she asked.
Farron had closed his eyes, and now opened them.
“I beg your pardon,” he said. “I didn’t hear.”
“She knows quite well that you can’t go down-town next week. She takes your message just to humor you.”
“She’s an excellent nurse,” said Farron.
“For babies,” Adelaide felt like answering, but she didn’t. She said instead, “Anyhow, Burke will never accept that as an answer.” She was surprised to hear something almost boastful in her own tone.
“Oh, I think he will.”
She waited breathlessly for some sound from down-stairs or even for the flurried reëntrance of Miss Gregory. There was a short silence, and then came the sound of the shutting of the front door. Marty had actually gone.
Vincent did not even open his eyes when Miss Gregory returned; he did not exert himself to ask how his message had been received. Adelaide waited an instant, and then went back to Mrs. Baxter with a strange sense of having sustained a small personal defeat.
Mrs. Baxter was so thoroughly ruffled that she was prepared to attack even the sacrosanct Adelaide. But she was not given the chance.