"She must have encouraged him!" the older lady finally burst forth.
"She did not encourage him to enter her room, as you saw and heard," said Viva with repressed intensity.
"He's only a boy!" said his grandmother.
"She is only a child, a helpless child, a foreigner, away from home, untaught, unprotected," Viva answered swiftly; adding with quiet sarcasm—"Save for the shelter of the home!"
They parted in silence.
WE EAT AT HOME
RONDEAU
We eat at home; we do not care
Of what insanitary fare;
So long as Mother makes the pie,
Content we live, content we die,
And proudly our dyspepsia bear.
Straight from our furred forefather's lair
The instinct comes of feeding there;
And still unmoved by progress high
We eat at home.
In wasteful ignorance we buy
Alone; alone our food we fry;
What though a tenfold cost we bear,
The doctor's bill, the dentist's chair?
Still without ever asking why
We eat at home.