"Seeing is believing, Brotherton."
"There's something in that, to be sure. Perhaps they don't think I've got a wife at all, because they haven't seen her."
"Oh, yes; they believe that."
"How kind of them. Well, mother, you've let the cat out of the bag."
"Don't tell them that I said so."
"No; I won't tell. Nor am I very much surprised. I thought how it would be when I didn't announce it all in the old-fashioned way. It's lucky that I have the certificated proof of the date of my marriage, isn't it?"
"It's all right, of course. I never doubted it, Brotherton."
"But all the others did. I knew there was something up when George wasn't at home to meet me."
"He is coming."
"He may stay away if he likes it. I don't want him. He won't have the courage to tell me up to my face that he doesn't intend to acknowledge my boy. He's too great a coward for that."