"Why  is  it?"  she  flared.  "Why  should  I  be
responsible  for  your  socks?"

"Somebody's  got  to  look  after  things.  Yester-
day I  hadn't  a  clean  collar."

"Well,  suppose  I  hadn't  a  clean  blouse!
Would  you  worry?"

He  eyed  her  sharply,  and  met  the  implied  chal-
lenge, saying  good-naturedly:

"Look  here,  Pat.  I  say  it's  up  to  you  to  see
that  this  house  is  better  managed.  You  don't
know  what  Louis  Tong  is  doing  in  the  kitchen —


ii4  GLINT  OF  WINGS

what  he  buys  or  how  much  he  spends!  You
should.  You  promised  to  be  my  partner,  and  if
our  exchequer  has  diminished — "

"That's  not  my  fault.  If  a  housewife  was
what  you  wanted  when  you  married  me,  you  could
have  hired  one."

"Pat!"

"Over  at  Catalina  I  told  you  .  .  ."

"And  I  told  you  what  I'd  expect  of  you,"  he
interrupted.  "I  weakened  because  I — well,  I
hoped  you'd  grow  to  care  for  me.  Besides,  I
hate  these  clashes.  They  soil  love.  I  know  how
your  father  felt,  I  see  why  he  couldn't  bring  him-
self to  force  you  to  do  things."

She  pricked  up  her  ears.  How  did  Stan  know
that  her  father  could  not  force  her  to  do  things?
Besides  he  had!

"Now  I  insist  upon  your  doing  your  share,"
her  husband  went  on.
"Insist!  You  can't  get  anything  out  of  me
through  force,  Stan  Creighton.  You  may  as  well
know  it.  I'll  bring  my  share  to  this  partnership,
but  in  a  different  way.  I  want  to  write  ...  I
want  to  write  quite  as  much  as  you  do."

Stan  laughed.
