“No. My father—” For the life of him, he could not stifle the choke in his voice. “No, I haven’t,” he said.
“You couldn’t, of course,” she agreed, and she looked at him sidewise. “Of course, if you went to them, your father would think you were trying to make up. You couldn’t do that.” There was an anxiety in her eyes; the anxiety of the experimenter. Wint went by contraries. Joan knew quite clearly what she wanted; she wanted him to go to his father. Was this the way to lead him to make the first move?
She was frightened at what she had done when he looked at her angrily. “See here,” he said, “do you want me to go to him? Do you think I ought to?” She was so frightened that she could not speak; but she nodded. Wint barked at her:
“Then why don’t you say so? I’m sick of having people make me do things by telling me not to.”
“I wasn’t trying to—make you do it, Wint,” she said; and she was almost pleading.
“You were; and you know it,” he told her flatly. “Weren’t you, now? Secretly trying to make me....”
Joan could not lie to him. “Y-Yes,” she said.
“Then come out with it,” Wint demanded; and he got up and stamped about the room, and words burst from him. “Joan,” he exclaimed, “I’ve been a fool, and I know it. Am one still, I suppose. Hate to be preached to and told what I must do, and mustn’t. You know that. Result is, I’m always in trouble. Jack Routt, best friend I’ve got, does me more harm than my worst enemy—just trying to keep me straight. I’ve always known it, in a way. Knew I was a fool. But I’ve been just contrary enough to refuse to be preached to. That’s the way I’m made. Only, for God’s sake, don’t you start trying to manage me.” He hesitated, groping for words, and his voice was suddenly weary and lonely as he said: “You ought to be able to talk straight to me, Joan.”
She did not answer for a moment; then she said simply: “I’m sorry, Wint. I was wrong.”
That took the wind out of him. He had hoped she would argue with him. He wanted an argument, wanted a hot combat of words; he was full of things that he wanted to say. To show her.... Justify himself to her. But you can’t argue with a person who agrees with you. He sat down as abruptly as he had risen, and stared again at the fire.