"But you had it at your house."
"You forget that he was only my stepfather."
"He isn't in the past tense yet," said he bitterly.
"I've always maintained that whiskey should be used for medicinal purposes only."
"Then please don't worry about it," said he curtly. "I've ordered a barrel of it."
"For—for medicinal purposes?" "Strictly."
She studied his face with uneasy alarm in her eyes.
"You—don't feel as though you were going to be ill, do you, dear?"
He moved to the opposite side of the table, involuntarily lifting his left elbow as if to shield himself. She stopped half-way. Then he laughed awkwardly and turned the subject.
One day he reached the startling conclusion, that she was getting heavier than she had ever been before. It required days of contemplation, scrutiny, and development of purpose before he could ask her to step onto the scales at the meat market.