It was one thing for Trevor to be rude to her, but she wouldn’t tolerate it toward her mother or the others at the boardinghouse. He embarrassed her horribly by his behavior. She tried to apologize on his behalf, mentioning the stress he was under because of those awful newspaper stories, but her mother remained unmoved.“I still haven’t forgiven him for grabbing that scholarship out of your hands. That man is as cold as a salamander. Always was, always will be.”Kate stepped off the streetcar at the hospital stop and saw Trevor on the front stairs, the big stray dog wagging her tail and bumping her muzzle against him. Trevor wore a sour expression as he tried to nudge the dog off the steps.“Good morning, Trevor. Making more friends?”The lines around his mouth tensed. “Kate, you need to back off. So does your mother. She was very rude last night.”“She asked you a polite question! So did Charlie Davis. You practically bit their heads off. The whole purpose was for you to try to be friendly and build up goodwill, so you’ll have community leaders on your side.”“They weren’t on my side; they were down my throat and in my private business.
