Then she became grave and conciliatory. “I’ll go,” she said. “It’s nothing, after all. I think I get you. They’ve been after you, and you don’t want to be bothered any more. I think we ought to get it over with as soon as possible.”
“We might go over this evening, immediately after dinner,” he suggested.
She fidgeted. “But you know I’ll have to come back to-morrow in time to practise my music lesson?” she stipulated.
Here was the opportunity to prove his complete fairness—to Thornburg. “There’s a piano over there. You can practise there, if you care to.”
“No, I’m coming back. I have to take a lesson from Flora, too—and give her a lesson.”
Baron didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Flora is giving me lessons in reading,” she explained. “You know I’m to go to school next fall.”
“No one had mentioned it to me. But of course you will. Everybody goes to school. And about giving her a lesson?” he added weakly.
“I’m not sure I ought to talk about that. But why not—to you? You see, I’m teaching her how to laugh.”
Baron stared. “Teaching her how to laugh!” he echoed.