"Have your own way, love," said Mr. Crotin meekly.
"Besides," she said, "it would be all over the town that it was your money which was coming in, and these horrid people would be laughing at me."
She finished buttoning her gloves and was looking at him curiously.
"What is the matter with you, John?" she asked suddenly, and he almost jumped.
"With me, love?" he said with a brave attempt at a smile. "Why, there's nothing the matter with me. What should there be?"
"You've been very strange lately," she said, "ever since you came back from London."
"I think I ate something that disagreed with my digestion," he said uneasily. "I didn't know that I'd been different."
"Are things well at your—factory?" she asked.
"At mills? Oh, aye, they're all right," he said. "I wish everything was as right as them."
"As they," she corrected.