Catherine's fingers gripped her serving fork.
"I'll see, Spencer," she said, clearly. "Later we'll talk about it."
"If he has it, I want it," Marian insisted.
"Will you change the subject?"
Charles's outbreak wrapped a heavy silence about the children. Catherine's spoon clicked in the bowl of salad dressing. How ghastly, she thought. It's our dissension, using them. Spencer had ducked his head; his nostrils dilated, his eyes moved unhappily from her face to his father's.
"Let's see, school opens on Wednesday, doesn't it?" She sought for safe words with which to rescue them. "You have to-morrow. Miss Kelly is going shopping for you. A coat for Marian——"
"Is she going to select clothes for them?" asked Charles, accusingly.
"Oh, she can do that. I've given her a price limit. The only difficult thing is shopping within that limit."
"I never had a bought coat, did I, Muvver?" Marian broke in. "Only coats you sewed for me."
"You're getting to be such a big girl." What possessed the children, anyway! Catherine heard Charles grunt faintly as if some huge dissatisfaction was confirmed. "And now——"