“I nearly went with Mrs. Grandage to the ‘Métropole,’ at Blackpool, but I don’t like dressing for dinner.”
“Blackpool’s not beautiful,” he said. “Ada, I want to talk to you, and I hardly know how to begin, except that I want you to understand that I’m in earnest. It’s a serious matter.”
“Money?” said Ada, sitting up sharply in her chair.
“Not money. We’ve both been wrong about money, I think. We’ve both taken it too seriously.”
“If you’re going to tell me that something has gone wrong with your money, it’s very serious indeed.”
“It hasn’t. No. This is a larger thing than money. I want, if I can, to alter things between us, Ada. How can I put it? There’s your father——”
“I never want to hear his name again,” she interrupted. “He insulted me.”
“You go to church, you know; you listen to him there.”
“People would talk if I didn’t go. I needn’t listen to him when I am in church.”
“He’s a good old man. I’m sorry we have drifted from him. But I’ll not press that now. If the rest comes right, that will come right with it. It might even come so right as to include my mother.”