"When did the desire to investigate affairs first get hold of you?" she asked.
"I believe that it was when I came back from Toronto," answered Florence thoughtfully. "Afterward we had the hail, and it became clear at once that there would have to be some cutting down of our expenses." Her face grew suddenly anxious as she glanced toward the grain. "That," she added, "ought to explain why the subject's an interesting one to me."
Alison was somewhat puzzled. There were signs of a change in her companion, who hitherto had, so far at least as she had noticed, taken only a very casual interest in her husband's affairs.
"Yes," she replied, "it does. I was very sorry when I heard about it."
Florence made a little abrupt gesture, as though in dismissal of the topic.
"What brought you over? You haven't been very often."
It was difficult to answer offhand, and Alison proceeded circuitously.
"You and I were pretty good friends in England, weren't we?"
"Of course," assented Florence. "You stood by me when your mother turned against me, and I've always had an idea that you suffered for it. We'll admit the fact. What comes next?"
Her manner was abrupt, but that was not infrequently the case, and Alison, who was fighting for her lover, was not readily daunted.