'Well, is it necessary to leave the door wide open behind you?'
She closed the door.
'Shut it, I say.'
She obeyed, and leaned her back against the valve, crossed her feet, and put her hands behind her on the handle.
'Where have you been?' asked Drownlands imperiously.
'To Red Wings, to see your niece. You don't know her. It is a pity. You should look after her; she is your own relation. She is not bad in her way, but awfully poor—and pig-headed too, which poor people oughtn't to be, because they can't afford it. I went to have a deal with her, but it was of no use. She would do no business with me.'
'Oh, you have gone back to your old profession of Cheap Jack, have you?'
'I never left it off. I Cheap Jack in my sleep and make thundering profits. It is disappointing to wake in the morning and see all the goods—and damaged ones too—on the shelves where they were the night before, after I had sold them off in my dreams at twenty-five and thirty per cent. profits. There's an epergne has been the nightmare to father and me. I wanted Kainie to take it, but she wouldn't. Suppose you buy it and present it to her, and so make peace and love between you?'
'Have done. I told you I did not wish you to know her.'
'But I went on business, and my time was wasted.'