"I came to ask about Mr.Farron; but I see you are in the midst of a family discussion, and so I won't--" Everybody separately cried out to her to stay as she began to retreat to the door, and no one more firmly than Adelaide, who thought it as careless as Mr.Lanley thought it creditable that a mother would be willing to go away and leave the discussion of her son's life to others.
Adelaide saw an opportunity of killing two birds.
"You are just the person for whom I have been longing, Mrs.Wayne," she said.

"Now you have come, we can settle the whole question." "And just what is the question ?" asked Mrs.Wayne.She sat down, looking distressed and rather guilty.

She knew they were going to ask her what she knew about all the things that had been going on, and a hasty examination of her consciousness showed her that she knew everything, though she had avoided Pete's full confidence.

She knew simply by knowing that any two young people who loved each other would rather marry than separate for a year.

But she was aware that this deduction, so inevitable to her, was exactly the one which would be denied by the others.