"Oh, splendid!" he exclaimed in approval.
"I hoped you'd think so. A hundred cleared it, as you would know."
"So little Marie had fifty pounds odd for her own banking account!"
"Not at all," she said, smiling into the fire as if she saw a very pleasant vision there; "I spent it."
Osborn took his pipe from his mouth and sat forward. "Whatever on?" he ejaculated.
His motion was surprise rather than disapproval. The money was hers, of course. But that a woman should have the temerity to spend fifty pounds odd in a few months when she was already supplied with enough to ensure comfort for herself and her family....
She lifted her head and looked at him. She dared him. The curls on her forehead danced and the amethyst eardrops twinkled; the shrug of her shoulders brought the mauve ribbons again under his notice.
"As I told you, I'm going into accounts with you this evening."
"Oh, well ... it's your own affair."
"But husbands like to make wives' affairs their own, don't they?"