He dropped in at the office for a few minutes to look through his accumulated mail. In it he found a formal resignation from Mrs. Pippy, who regretted that the lack of his moral support at a time when her position had grown untenable rendered her resignation imperative. She informed him of the address to which he might mail her check.
“I suppose I shall never have another Mrs. Pippy,” Dan sighed, and added, “and I hope I never shall.”
The moment he entered his home Tamea leaped out at him suddenly from behind the portières where she had been hiding. “Chéri!” she cried and favored him with a bone-cracking hug. “My adored one,” she added, and delivered a barrage of osculation that left Dan quite breathless. When he could speak he said:
“Graves has told me of the battle which took place here during my absence. Tamea, I am not pleased with your high-handed procedure.”
“P-f-f. Dear one, that Pippy was offensive. I disliked that old woman the first time she looked at me—like this,” and Tamea wrinkled her adorable nose. “There was nothing else to do. She had defied me by dismissing Julia, and this was mutiny, since Julia was mine and you had given her to me. If the king fails to protect those who come under the king’s protection, the people murmur and there is discontent and perhaps revolt, is there not? My place was here to protect my servant and I came and protected her. I have done well and you must not reprove me, dear one. If you do I shall be very unhappy.”
“Oh, it’s all right, it’s all right,” Dan protested. “It’s just that I hate a beastly row. You did not secure permission from the Mother Superior to come here?”
“I?” the amazed girl demanded. “I—Tamea, plead for permission? You do not know me, I think, dear one. Julia came in the car with Graves and I left at once. At the gate the nun on watch desired to stop me. She even laid hands upon me, but I thrust her aside. Tiens, I was angry!”
“I judged as much from a letter which the Mother Superior wrote me. Tamea, you may not return to that convent. They cannot control you and they do not desire that you remain there longer. My dear, can you not realize that this is very, very embarrassing to me?”
“It is very delightful to me, darling Dan. I did not wish to remain there. They opened your letters to me and before I could seal my letters to you they were read. So I did not send them, but kept them all for you. Tonight, after dinner, you shall read them, one by one. Yes, at that convent there was much between us of what you call in this country rough house.”
Sooey Wan came in from the kitchen, grunted a greeting to his employer, picked up Dan’s bags and disappeared upstairs with them. Returning, he paused for a moment at the foot of the stairs and said: