The red-haired boy who had had his ears boxed stopped howling to stare at her. Mrs. Johnson deserted the wash-tub and came forward, wiping soapy arms on a not over-clean apron.
"Well, who'd have thought of seeing you?" she said blankly.
Peg nodded carelessly to her stepfather, who had risen awkwardly to offer her a chair.
"Thanks, no—I'll stand; I only looked in for a minute." Then her face changed a little as she recognized a second man who had been lolling in the background against a crowded dresser.
"Hullo, Ben!" she said, and the colour deepened in her cheeks.
She and Ben Travers had once been very good friends. There had been a time when she had seriously contemplated taking him on trial as a sweetheart, but her friendship with Faith had put an end to it all, though Ben had never forgiven her, and Peg knew it well enough.
The last time she had seen him had been the day when Forrester came to admit his defeat and to ask her to live at his flat, and she realized with a faint sense of discomfort that she and he had grown many miles apart since then.
But he only nodded and said, "Hullo, Peg," quite unconcernedly.
There was an awkward silence, broken by Peg's mother.