Bruce went out talking to himself.
CHAPTER VII—A LIGHT GOES OUT
MAMIE grew slowly better, but the baby was kept alive only by constant attention. Hunch did not go to the house at all. Jess suggested it once or twice, but it made Hunch look so black that she began to avoid the subject. For the rest of the time Hunch was in better spirits than usual. After the night with Bruce, he had made up his mind to drop Bruce and his family from his mind. He had no right to interfere in Bruce's domestic matters. The decision brought relief, and Jess and he were happier than at any time since the beginning of their engagement. They spent their evenings going to entertainments, or sitting in the parlor, talking, with the lamp turned low.
One night Hunch came in a little earlier than usual, without knocking, and found Jess bending over a paper with some sort of colored illustrations. She slipped it into a drawer as he entered the room.
“What you reading?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing.”
“Yes, you was. I saw it.” He laughed and started to open the drawer, but she stood against it.
“Please don't look.”