She kissed him fondly. "You're going away, but I hope you'll come back in time."
He knew she meant Junia.
"Yes, I hope I'll come back in time."
A moment later he was gone, out of the sidedoor, through the bushes, and down the hill, running like a boy. He had for the first time talked to his mother about the life of their home; the facts she told him stripped away the curtain that hid the secret things of life from his eyes.
John Grier almost burst upon his wife. He opened and shut the door noisily; he stamped into the dusky room.
"Isn't it time for a light?" he said with a quizzical nod towards her.
The short visit of Carnac had straightened her back. "I like the twilight. I don't light up until it's dark, but if you wish--"
"You like the twilight; you don't light up until it's dark, but if I wish--ah, that's it! Have your own way.... I'm the breadwinner; I'm the breadwinner; I'm the fighter; I'm the man that makes the machine go; but I don't like the twilight, and I don't like to wait until it's dark before I light up. So there it is!"
She said nothing at once, but struck a match, and lit the gas.
"It's easy to give you what you want," she answered after a little. "I'm used to it now."
There was something animal-like in the thrust forward of his neck, in the anger that mounted to his eyes. When she had drawn down the blinds, he said to her: "Who's been here?"
For an instant she hesitated. Then she said: "Carnac's been here, but that has naught to do with what I said. I've lived with you for over thirty years, and I haven't spoken my mind often, but I'm speaking it now."
"Never too late to mend, eh!" he gruffly interposed. "So Carnac's been here! Putting up his independent clack, eh? He leaves his old father to struggle as best he may, and doesn't care a damn. That's your son Carnac."
How she longed to say to him, "That's not your son Carnac!" but she could not. A greyness crossed over her face.
"Is Carnac staying here?"
She shook her head in negation.
"Well, now I'll tell you about Carnac," he said viciously. "I'm shutting him out of the business of my life. You understand?"
"You mean--" She paused.
"He's taken his course, let him stick to it. I'm taking my course, and I'll stick to it."