"How does she treat you?"
"If I bring home a good bit of money, she pats me on the head and says I am a good boy, but if I am not lucky she is very cross, and sometimes she beats me."
Mark's sympathies were aroused. Jack was so small, and weak in appearance, that it seemed to him revolting to think of his being at the mercy of a cruel old woman. Half unconsciously his fist doubled up, his teeth closed firmly together, and he just wished he had the merciless Peggy in his power.
"Is Peggy temperate?" he asked.
Jack looked at him inquiringly.
"Does she drink?" Mark asked, changing the form of his question.
"She drinks beer, and sometimes whiskey," answered Jack.
"Does she get—drunk?"
"Sometimes."
"How does it affect her?"