“No,” Mrs. Dodge replied, returning her attention to her work;—“not terms.”
“Oh,” he said. “Just one term, then. She used a single term of endearment in addressing him. Is that correct?”
Again Mrs. Dodge became musical: she hummed a cheerful tune, but her face was overcast with a dour solemnity.
“So she did!” her husband exclaimed. “Did she call him ‘dear’?”
“No, she didn’t.”
“ ‘Dearest’?”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Not,” he said, incredulously, “not—‘darling’?”
Mrs. Dodge instantly resumed her humming.
“By George!” her husband cried. “Why, that’s just awful! What else did she say to him besides calling him ‘darling’?”