"Oh!" said the old lady tartly. "I can stay as long as you like, you know. Lois and I get on splendidly."
It was true. They had had one enormous quarrel, which had mysteriously ended by both of them denying superiorly to all males that any quarrel had ever occurred.
"Well, come into the dining-room."
"I think I'll go up and see Lois at once," said Mrs. Clayhanger.
"The doctor's there."
"What if he is?"
The Alderman put in:
"Now look here, missis. Don't startle her."
Mrs. Clayhanger exhaled impatient scorn and went upstairs.
"This your stuff?" the Alderman questioned, pointing with his stick to the kit-bag and strange packages on the hall floor.