He kissed her again, and once more she let him do it, passively, gazing, so to speak, into his mind rather than his heart.
Jim spoke curtly.
"Make up your mind to this, Posy. There will be a big row. It's inevitable."
Posy laughed.
"How like a man! Big rows are never inevitable. And daddy is an awful old fuss-pot, but his bark is much worse than his bite. When he barks at me I laugh inside. Now, Jim, are you necessary to father?"
"Necessary? Perhaps I am more necessary than he thinks, because I know too much to be treated badly. He would hardly dare to sack me."
"Not dare!"
"I mean that I have a sort of 'pull' with him. And I'm a hard worker, and a first-class cabinet-maker. When the time comes for him to take a partner he couldn't find a better man than I am."
Posy laughed.
"Jim, I declare you have caught father's habit of swanking."