“Cecil’s grandparents——” Her voice shook so much from anger and dismay that she could not go on.
“Have nothing to do with it, strictly speaking. The issue lies between you and me, whilst Cecil is under sixteen, and I feel sure that we shall work together more amicably after my little explanation. All I ask you to remember is that our rights of guardianship”—his pause stressed the words—“are equal. Yours and mine.”
“Damn Jim!” said Rose passionately. “And damn the laws of this country, too, if they’re as unjust as all that.”
“H’sh—h’sh—h’sh——” He raised a slim hand authoritatively. “Forgive me if I say that you yourself have done, and are doing, more than any one to convince me of poor Jim’s wisdom in having appointed me joint guardian with you to his son. No woman is fit to bring up a boy entirely unaided, in my humble opinion.”
“She can bring him into the world unaided, though,” said Rose bitterly. “It looks to me like all kicks and no halfpence, for the woman, according to you.”
“Spare me a discussion on Woman’s Rights, Rose, I beg of you. The subject holds not the least interest for me, and, moreover, I feel convinced that we should differ widely in our views. All I ask you to do is to let me know when Cecil is to return to his usual routine.”
“When I please, and not a day or a minute sooner,” said Mrs. Aviolet with unconcealed temper blazing in her eyes and heightening the pitch of her always high-pitched voice.
Ford shrugged his shoulders at the ill-breeding and turned away.
They exchanged no farewells on the following day.
In Rose’s mind was an unspecified determination that she and her child would not return to Squires on the same terms as before, and vague dreams of independence and freedom possessed her as the train carried them towards London.