"No, I draw the line at refereeing domestic scraps. If Curly wants to go frame in with a moll, it's his business; I can't do anything." And then he dryly added: "Nobody can, with Jane; she's hell!"
XXVIII
One morning, a week later, as they sat at breakfast, Ward handed his newspaper across to Elizabeth, indicating an item in the social column, and Elizabeth read:
"Mr. Amos Hunter, accompanied by his daughter, Miss Agnes Hunter, sailed from New York yesterday on the steamer King Emanuel for Naples. Mr. Hunter goes abroad for his health, and will spend the winter in Italy."
Elizabeth looked up.
"That means--?"
"That it's settled," Ward replied.
She grew suddenly weak, in the sense of relief that seemed to dissolve her.
"Unless," Ward added, and Elizabeth caught herself and looked at her father fearfully, "Hunter should come back."
"But will he?"