"Fan, that's a mighty poor beginning for the explanation I expect from you."
His tone was one of forbearance, but before he could finish she was as red as a flower. "I belong to my husband! When I've anything to explain I'll explain to him."
"Fannie Halliday——"
"Ravenel, if you please, sir."
He smiled severely. "Have a chair, Mrs. Ravenel. Fan, you're married to a man who never asks an explanation."
The two gazed upon each other in silence. His accustomed belief in her and her ardent love for him were already stealing back into their hearts. Nevertheless——
"O, sir!" she exclaimed, "tell me something I don't know! Yes! But I'm married to a man who waits for things to explain themselves."
"Or till they're past all explanation, Fan."
"Yes, sir; yes! But more! I'm married to a man who knows that nothing can explain conduct but conduct. That's the kind of explanation you still owe me, Pop, till you pay it to John March."
"Well, then," he replied with new warmth, "I'll owe it a long time. If he ever again shows his carelessness of conventional——"