“I suppose so,” she assented. “I thought possibly you might have gone somewhere else after you left mother’s.”
“No.” But there had been something a little perturbed in her voice and he turned to look at her. “Were you at the window on Dan’s account, mother? Are you anxious about him?”
“Not exactly anxious,” she answered. “But—well, I just thought——” She paused.
Harlan laughed. “Don’t be worried about it. I’ll sit up for him, if you like. I dare say your surmise is correct.”
“My surmise?” she repeated, a little embarrassed. “What surmise?”
“About how your wandering boy has spent his evening,” Harlan returned lightly. “I haven’t a doubt you’re right, and he’s followed the good old custom.”
Mrs. Oliphant coloured a little. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh, yes, you do!”
“I don’t,” she protested, with a consciousness of manner that betrayed how well she understood him in spite of her denial. “I don’t, indeed!”
“No?” the amused Harlan said mockingly. “You don’t know that upon the birth of an heir—especially when it’s the first and a boy—it’s always understood by every good citizen of these parts that it’s the proud father’s business to go out and celebrate? Don’t worry, mother: Dan won’t go so far with it that he’ll be unable to get home. Even in his liveliest times at college he always kept his head.”