“I see,” she said. “You had to come to it, after all, didn’t you. I suppose likely I was the one who put the idea in your head, so I ought to take the responsibility.”
“No, you needn’t. I’ll take it myself. I should have thought of some such thing, sooner or later, without your help. But I’m much obliged for the reminder, just the same.”
Again she looked up.
“Too much company up your way, wasn’t there?” she suggested.
“Too darned much, of the kind. That young Griffin has got as much cheek as his whole family together. And that doesn’t mean a little bit.... Humph! I’m a long sea mile from being sure that I ought to have let him come there in the first place. You were responsible for that, too, Reliance. Remember?”
“Of course I remember. But you must remember that I told you unless he and Esther were different from most any young couple I ever heard of they would find ways to see each other anyhow, and it might be best to let them meet where you were within hailin’ distance. I think I was right—even yet.”
“What do you mean by ‘even yet’?”
“Nothing. Nothing now, at any rate. Foster, how far has this affair of theirs gone? Are they—well, do you think they are any more than just good friends?”
“Eh,” sharply. “Any more? Now why do you ask that. If I thought—”
“Ssh! What do you think?... Careful of that chair! That’s Abbie’s pet rocker.”