"Pearl, you're wrong in one place," he said, "just one—you had everything else straight. But you were wrong in one place."
He went around the table and laid his hand on his wife's head.
"Millie," he said, gently.
She looked up at him tearfully.
"Millie!"
He stood awkwardly beside her, struggling to control himself. All the swagger had gone from him, all the bluster. When he spoke his voice was husky.
"Pearl has got it all straight, except in one place." he said. "She's wrong in one place. She says you guessed wrong when you married me, Millie."
His voice was thick, and the words came with difficulty.
"Pearl has done fine, and sized the case up well … but she's wrong there. It looks bad just now, Millie—but you didn't make such a rotten guess, after all. I'm not just sayin' what I'll do, but—"
"The deal is off, Bob," he said to Mr. Gilchrist, "until Mrs. Paine and I talk things over."