"I meant to ask Angelica to ask you," said Polly.
"I did ask her, too," said Angelica.
"No," said Mrs. Russell, still smiling. "You didn’t. You forgot, I suppose."
"Were you out in it all day, then?" demanded Eddie.
"My dear boy, I was. And now, if you please, we won’t have any more of this. You can do your scolding in private. Polly shall have the car all the time. Tommy!" she said, turning to her husband. "Who do you think I had lunch with at the Country Club but Horace and Julie Naylor? Poor Horace! She is such a dreadful, vulgar little minx! And yet she’s so amusing. I must have her down here again."
"Not when I’m home," said Eddie. "I think she’s disgusting."
"Pretty little woman, though," said the doctor.
"Plenty of them!" said Eddie.
Mrs. Russell had got away from the subject of the motor-car, and rested satisfied. It was a question with Angelica whether, after all, she hadn’t triumphed. It was a drawn battle, at the best.
But before the evening was over the combatants were obliged to forget their hostility and to ally themselves against their common tyrant. All very well for them to quarrel together, but they didn’t forget that Eddie was the source of all good, and that, to placate him, all private feuds must be ignored.