"Oh, drop that!" interrupted Barber. "Y' waste y'r breath!" Then with another shake of the finger, "What I want t' know—and the truth, mind y'!—is how long has this been goin' on?" He leaned on the table to peer into her eyes.
Going on? Johnnie's look darted from one to the other. Had Cis been staying away from the factory? Had she been taking some of her earnings to see a moving-picture? or——
"I don't have to tell you!" Cis declared.
"I'm the man that feeds y'!" Barber reminded. "Jus' remember that!"
"You've taken my earnings," she returned. "You've taken every cent I've ever got for my work! And don't you forget that!"
"Ev'ry girl brings home her wages," answered the longshoreman. "And don't y' forgit that I fed y' many a year before y' was able t' work——"
"While my mother was living, she earned my food!" Cis cried. "And I've worked, just as Johnnie has, ever since I was a baby!"
"Have y'? Bosh! Y' been a big expense t' me, that's what y' been, for all these past ten years! And now, jus' when y're old enough t' begin payin' me back a little, here y' go t' actin' up! Well, you was left in my hands. I'm only stepfather to y'. All right. But I'm goin' t' see that y' behave y'rself."
"You've got nothing to say about me!" she persisted.
"No? I'll show y'! But what I want t' know now is, how many times have you met this dude at the noon hour?"