Mr. Farley coughed. "In spite of the impracticability of his views, I'm sure none of us wish Ridge out of the way."
Alice frayed the edges of her slice of beef by futile jabs with her fork, but she could not make up her mind to eat. Suddenly these people became intolerable to her. She rose without a word, and walked out of the room.
They stared at her disappearing back.
"What's the matter, Alice?" Laurence called. He got up, glancing at his mother. "Shall I go after her?"
Mrs. Farley had so hardened, in her determination to keep silence, that it was difficult for her to speak of commonplace matters. "Leave her alone," she said in a grating voice.
Laurence shrugged and sat down again.
"She probably feels that we are not sympathetic in regard to Mr. Ridge," Mr. Farley said. He smiled painfully and apologetically.
"No, I don't think we are," said Laurence comfortably.
Mrs. Farley had shut herself up again.
Alice went out through the kitchen and stood in the back yard. It was foggy close to the earth. The street lamps beyond the high back wall diffused their brightness in the thickness of the night so that the darkness seemed atingle with a whitish blush.