"You know what I mean," answered George, trying to conceal his annoyance at this sort of petty quibbling. "I mean he is too personal, over-excitable, irrational and very hard to deal with."
"Dear me," said Jaffry. "Is Geneviève like that?"
"Geneviève," replied her husband loyally, "is much better poised than most women, but—yes,—even she—all women are more or less like that."
"All women and Penny. Well, George, you have my sympathy. An excitable partner, an irrational stenographer, and a wife that's very hard to deal with!"
"I never said Geneviève was hard to deal with," George almost shouted.
"My mistake—thought you did," answered his uncle, now moving rapidly away. "Let me know the result of the interview, and we'll talk over ways and means." And he shut the door briskly behind him.
George walked to the window, with his hands in his pockets. He always liked to look out while he turned over grave questions in his mind; but this comfort was now denied to him, for he could not help being distracted by the voiceless speech still relentlessly turning its pages in the opposite window.
The heading now was:
DOES THE FIFTY-FOUR-HOUR-A-WEEK LAW APPLY TO FLOWERS?
He flung himself down on his chair with an exclamation. He knew he had to think carefully about something which he had never considered before, and that was his wife's character.