Her father cast a startled look at her, his eyes still clouded with wrath and mortification.
“No. Why?”
Emily smiled across at Leigh.
“Dan’s in love with Virginia himself, and Willie cut him out. That’s why!”
Mr. Carter stared at her with exasperation. She was going a little too far, and her annihilation was impending when Mrs. Carter suddenly uttered a cry of horror. She had picked up the newspaper. It was local, but it often copied bits from the New York dailies, when the bits were likely to interest the town.
“Oh, good gracious, here’s a marriage notice from a New York paper!” she cried, pointing it out with a shaking forefinger: “‘William Henry Carter and Fanchon la Fare.’ Papa, they weren’t married until they got to New York—the very day Willie posted that letter!”
Mr. Carter snatched the paper from her hand and read the notice; then he slammed it down on the table with a violence that made all the dishes rattle. He was fairly choking with rage now.
“Came over on the steamer with him, of course!” he shouted. “You get the idea, mama? A French girl! Came over on the same steamer—seven—nine days at sea—and got married in New York. My word!” he fairly bellowed. “What kind of a daughter-in-law d’you think we’ve got? I ask you that!”
“Oh, papa—sh!” gasped his wife weakly. “Think of these children——”
“Sh?” he shouted. “Sh? With this thing out in black and white? D’you think people haven’t got eyes? The whole town’ll read it—trust ’em for that! French laws—birth certificates—banns—chaperons—I’d like to see ’em—wow!”