“Why?”
“They it would — well, they think it’s best to have things the way they are.”
“How old is Carlotta?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Your wife?”
“Thirty. But what I wanted to talk to you about, Mrs. Cool, was that judgment. All of this other stuff just” — Belder laughed apologetically — “well, it just crept in, Mrs. Cool — crept in casually.”
“The hell it did,” Bertha said. “I brought it in.”
“Well, yes, I guess you did.”
“And you want to settle Nunnely’s judgment”
“Yes.”