She said: "Ina. Help me. If it was Dwight—and they didn't know whether he had another wife, or not, and you wanted to ask him—oh, don't you see? Help me."
Ina was not yet the woman to cry for justice for its own sake, nor even to stand by another woman. She was primitive, and her instinct was to look to her own male merely.
"Well," she said, "of course. But why not let Dwight do it in his own way? Wouldn't that be better?"
She put it to her sister fairly: Now, no matter what Dwight's way was, wouldn't that be better?
"Mother!" said Lulu. She looked irresolutely toward her mother. But Mrs. Bett was eating cardamom seeds with exceeding gusto, and Lulu looked away. Caught by the gesture, Mrs. Bett voiced her grievance.
"Lulie," she said, "Set down. Take off your hat, why don't you?"
Lulu turned upon Dwight a quiet face which he had never seen before.
"You write that letter to Ninian," she said, "and you make him tell you so you'll understand. I know he spoke the truth. But I want you to know."
"M—m," said Dwight. "And then I suppose you're going to tell it all over town—as soon as you have the proofs."
"I'm going to tell it all over town," said Lulu, "just as it is—unless you write to him now."