“I want to know how he handles the love interest,” he said.
“Oh, you got that from George Halliday,” said Mayme. “It sounds just like him when he’s discussing some book none of us has read, doesn’t it, Lavinia?”
Lavinia admitted that it did sound like Halliday, and Mayme returned to her attack on Lawrence by saying:
“What do you know about writing, anyway?”
They might have gone farther along this line had not Mrs. Blair entered with a plate of cake and some ice-cream that had been left over from their dessert at supper. These refreshments instantly seemed to affect Mayme with the idea that the call had assumed the formality of a social function, and as she nibbled at her cake, she asked with a polite interest:
“Just what is Mr. Marley’s position with the railroad, Lavinia?”
“Oh,” Lavinia answered, “he has a place in the office of the freight department; he’s a clerk there.”
“I’m so glad to know,” said Mayme, as if in relief.
“Why?” Lavinia looked up in alarm.
“Oh, well, you know—how people talk.” Mayme raised her pale eyebrows significantly. Lavinia was disturbed, but Lawrence, detecting the danger, instantly turned it off in a joke.