"Why did you stay so long there?" he asked at once.
"But Jim," she explained, "a little more makes no real difference, and is so much more polite."
"It makes a difference to me," he retorted, "when I have to talk with your sister. Darn it, you know she and I never get on."
She winced at his expletive, which seemed to hint of something stronger, and so was just as bad. "Don't," she pleaded. "I—I'm sorry about Judith, Jim."
"I might be allowed to say darn sometimes," he complained. "Most men say something worse."
"It's just—manners, Jim," she answered. "And don't you think the way you spoke to George, when so much depends upon him——"
"Look here, Beth," he interrupted, "am I not a fair judge of my own behaviour?"
"I didn't say that, dear!" she cried.
"He needn't give himself such airs, anyway," Jim went on. "Pease is my boss, not Mather."
"Oh, I think you mistake," she said.