"Suppose I would?" I said saucily.
"We could go to the dance afterward."
For a week we had gone on as if nothing had happened. But every day the duty had grown clearer to me. Here was the son father needed. I could make all of his life easier. He was the dearest person in the world to me, and why should I not think of him first? There seemed two sides to me, which there would not have been if I had loved and understood truly what marriage meant, that it was not all father's comfort and interest.
"Come." He sprang on Chita. Then he made a sudden decisive motion with his arm, and gathered me up in front of him.
"I should have a pillion," I began complainingly.
"I want you here, just here, where I can see you and cannot lose you. If I did, your father would beat out my brains with his crutch, and I would deserve it. There, are you comfortable?"
He settled me and placed his arm tightly about me, turning Chita with his right hand.
"I am very uncomfortable," I retorted petulantly.
"You won't mind it in a moment when we get out of this beastly street."
"Oh, don't!" I tried to loosen his arm. "I can't get my breath. I don't want to go."