“Better stop here. We have a lot of things to arrange.”
“Arrange! What sort of things?”
“Business affairs for the most part.”
“Oh, business! Any discussion of—”
“I said nothing about discussion, mother. For some years past I have been rather careless in my ways. Now I am going to stop all that. A good business maxim is to always choose the word that expresses one’s meaning exactly.”
“Rex, you speak queerly.”
“That shows I’m doing well. Your ears have so long been accustomed to falsity, mother, that the truth sounds strangely.”
“My son, do not be so bitter with me. I have never in my life had other than the best of motives in any thought or action that concerned you.”
He looked at her intently. He read in her words an admission and a defense.
“Let us avoid tragedy, mother, at least in words. Who sent you to Winifred?”