Gertrude was the picture of surprised innocence.
“Ask him to call?” she repeated. “Mr. Holway, do you mean? I don't know. I think not. Why?”
“WHY?” Captain Dan almost shouted it. His wife motioned him to be quiet.
“Hush, Daniel,” she said. “You know why, Gertie, as well as I do. You are engaged to be married.”
Gertrude smiled. “Of course I am,” she answered. “What of it?”
“What OF IT?”
“Hush, Daniel, hush! Engaged girls, Gertie, are not supposed to have young men calling upon them.”
“Oh,” with a shrug. “I don't know that he was calling on me. He did not ask for me when he came. And you and Daddy were here all the time. Besides, merely because I am engaged isn't any reason why I should retire from the world altogether, is it? Mrs. Lake says—”
Daniel struck the table with his fist.
“Mrs. Lake!” he shouted. “Mrs. Lake don't live with her husband. She's a grass widow, that's what she is.”