“Nancy! Nancy!” he reproved her. “This is too serious a matter to make a joke about.”
I was watching Mrs. Banks, and saw the almost invisible lift of the eyebrows with which she passed on the conduct of the case to Anne.
“Mother isn’t joking, dear,” Anne said, accepting the signal without an instant’s hesitation. “Really serious things have been happening while you were away.”
Her father frowned and shook his head. “This isn’t the place to discuss them,” he replied.
“Well, father, I’m afraid we must discuss them very soon,” Anne returned; “because Mr. Jervaise might be coming up after supper.”
“Mr. Jervaise? Coming here?” Banks’s tone of dismay showed that he was beginning, however slowly, to appreciate the true significance of the situation.
“Well, we don’t know that he is,” Arthur put in. “I just thought it was possible he and Mr. Frank might come up this evening.”
“They will certainly come. Have no doubt of that,” Mrs. Banks remarked.
The old man turned to his son as if seeking a refuge from the intrigues of his adored but incomprehensible womenfolk.
“What for?” he asked brusquely.