The sharp interrogation ought to have given him pause.
Perhaps he had always underrated Susan's subtlety. The most foolish mothers can be subtle as the serpent when the happiness of their children is at stake.
"Miss you? Haven't I said time and again that I hoped as I'd be taken first?"
She sat up alert, strangely composed after this tempest of emotion.
"Oh yes, you've said so——"
He was far too excited to perceive that she was leading him into a trap cunningly contrived.
"Meant it, too! Man o' my word, I am!"
Susan stood up.
"Man of your word," she repeated ironically. "Tell me you was joking when you threatened to turn young Posy into the street?"
His mouth opened, his eyes protruded, as if he were a victim of that rare malady known as Graves's disease. Had his Susan plotted and planned to trip him up? Was she a superlative actress? He moistened his parched lips with his tongue, measuring his will against hers, sorry for her, but sorrier still for himself. Then he said more calmly: