"Oh!" she cried, "you are stupid! You don't see--you don't understand!
Easy to say 'anywhere,' but where--_where_? I have no money. I have no
friends--I--"

The knowledge of her plight and her outlook crowded upon her speech;
broke her voice.

Her distracted George in a moment had her hands in his. "Oh, my dear,"
he cried, "what a fool I am! What a beast to storm like that! I was so
wild. So mad. Of course you had to think before you moved. You were
right, of course you were right. But, my darling, I'm right now. You
see that, don't you? You can't stay a moment longer with those
beasts."

And then he laughed grimly. "Especially," he added, "after what I'm
going to do to Master Bob."

She too laughed. The thought of Bob learning manners beneath the
tuition of those sinewy brown hands that were about hers was very
pleasant to her. But it was a pleasure that must be denied--this she
saw clearly as the result of weary tossings throughout the night; and
now she set about the task of explaining it to George.

She said: "Oh, my dear, you're not right. Georgie, I can't go--if Mrs.
Chater will let me stay I must stay."

He tried to be calm, to understand these women, to understand his
Mary. "But why?" he asked. "Why?"