“No, dear,” he answered her, “we do not need to hide it. People who know us and believe in us, and for whose opinions we care, will not criticize us; all others may do so to their heart’s content. It will not matter to us; we shall be supremely happy in spite of them.”
He passed his arm around her shoulders and drew her face against his.
Then, suddenly, she awoke. She threw his arm from her as if it had been a serpent coiled about her body. She wrenched herself free from him, and sprang to her feet. In the excitement her chair was overturned and fell with a crash to the floor. The door leading from the kitchen was pushed open from without, and an old woman, with frightened eyes, looked in.
“What’s the matter, Mary?” she asked.
“Nothing, mother. Everything’s all right; come in.”
Lamar picked up the chair, and stood with flushed and scowling face.
“What was all the noise about?” asked the old woman.
“Why, Steve was just going, and he accidentally tipped over his chair getting up, that’s all. You needn’t go back into the kitchen, mother. Steve isn’t going to stay any longer.”
The man’s scowl deepened. “But there’s more I want to say to you,” he said, “and I want to say it to you alone.”