Kate’s fingers clenched, but she said quietly:
“You haven’t answered my question.”
He resented the rebuke, but chiefly her self-control. The bully in him wanted to see tears, to see her overawed and humble; she had too much assurance for a social cipher. If she did not realize that fact yet, it was for him to let her know it.
He brought the front legs of his chair down with a thump and thundered:
“Yes—it’s closed, and it won’t be opened, neither! You’d better not start in tryin’ to stir up somethin’, or you’ll be sorry—as it is, you’re a detriment to the community!”
He mistook her white-faced silence, and added with less violence:
“Why don’t you fade away, anyhow—sell out and get into something in your line in some good town or city?”
She was shivering as with a chill as she walked closer and asked in a hoarse whisper:
“What would you suggest—exactly?”
Ah, this was more like it! There was something even beneficent in his relaxed features as he answered: