“She was a good nurse and she was nice to you, Joe.”
“Yes,” he admitted with a chuckle; “but she is a whole lot nicer to Mike Kelly these days.”
Virginia was all interest.
“He’s as pleased with her as a snow bird at a blizzard. Every time it was Miss Knight’s evening off, he would make an early call upon me dressed in his best clothes.”
There came a knock at the front door.
Hastening to it at a nod from Mrs. Curtis, Helen threw it wide open. Aunt Kate and Obadiah waited without.
“Daddy,” cried Virginia, for the moment blissfully forgetful as she tried to get around Joe without hurting his outstretched leg.
“Obadiah Dale!” It was Mrs. Curtis who spoke from the doorway into the dining room and there was something in her voice which held them all. The happiness had gone from her face, leaving it cold and distorted with passion as Virginia had seen it.
“Obadiah Dale!”–she fairly hissed the words–“What do you want in my house? Would you like to do me greater harm–you robber?” She gave a shrill mirthless laugh and flung her hands towards the sides of the poorly furnished room. “Look about you. There isn’t much left since you got in your devil’s work.”
Mrs. Curtis’s eyes shifted to Virginia as, startled by this strange attack upon her father, she waited at Joe’s side. It was as if the woman struggled between aversion and regard. “I never thought you were his daughter,” she snarled.