Carmella Commands
“You’ve got what she wanted,” said Carmella sagely. “Was she mad?”
“As mad as she dared to be,” he laughed.
“Don’t you ever go back there!” cried Carmella explosively. The force of her emotion stood her on her feet. “Don’t you dare! Come with dad! Do anything else you want to. Go to bootlegging. Or start an honest garage. But don’t you ever, ever go back to that woman. She fired you for being sick.”
“Soft pedal,” said he, smiling. “Remember, this is a hospital.”
“Good-bye, Mr. Dixon,” she said, flaming hotly. “I’m sorry I blew up.”
“Aw, don’t go off mad. I’m with you on everything you said except running an honest garage. That’d be too strenuous for a man just out of the hospital. Sit down again! How’s school?”
They chatted a few minutes, but Dixon saw the girl was ashamed of her outbreak. So he did not protest again when she started up to go.
As Carmella approached her home she was hailed by Mrs. Pieri.
“Come in and tell me what to do,” she pleaded.
“About Nicolo?”
Mrs. Pieri nodded.
“Hire a lawyer,” said Carmella.
“But I do not know. I do not know anything. My Nicolo, he stays away and will not talk. He—he swear at me when I ask.”
[248]
