"I must have my mornings to myself."[128]
He said: "Under the terms I must be permitted to ask you any questions I choose. You understand that, don't you?"
"Yes," she said.
"Then—why must you have your mornings to yourself?"
"I have work to do."
"What work? What are you?"
She flushed a trifle, then, accepting the rules of the game, smiled at Brown.
"I am a school-teacher," she said. "Ill health from overwork drove me South to convalesce. I am trying to support myself here by working in the mornings."
"I am sorry," he said gently. Then, aware of his concession to a very human weakness, he added with businesslike decision: "What is the nature of your morning's work?"
"I—write," she admitted.