Dosia rose and closed the door noiselessly; she would have liked to shut it with a bang. It was a climax. There seemed to be nothing that she could do in this house that was right! Her attitude had ceased to be only that of an alien, it was that of an antagonist; but it was also that of a lonely and unguarded child.
CHAPTER NINE
The closed door did not keep out the sounds below. Dosia could hear Justin’s voice upraised toward his only son, and Lois’ pleading “Please, Justin!”
“Be quiet, Lois; I’ll settle this. Go down-stairs.”
“I want dinky orter.” The child’s voice was high.
“You have just had a drink of water; lie still.”
“Redge ’ants ’noder dinky orter.”
“Do you hear me? Lie still.”
“Let me take him, Justin; I’m sure he isn’t well. I——”
Dosia could hear her step getting fainter in the distance, and could imagine the look from Justin that had commanded her obedience. There was a definite masculine authority about him before which, on those rare occasions when he chose to exert it, every woman-soul in the house bowed down with the curious submission inherited from barbaric ages. Only the son and heir rebelled openly, with a firmness caught from the same blood.