Chapter Thirteen
Over the next several months, Margaret and her mother, Florence, kept a close eye on Richie’s activities. Margaret sat Richie down in the living room one afternoon and discussed Dahlia Smythe’s whipping horse. That one conversation reinvigorated Richie’s conviction his mother meant business. She did not mention Mrs. Smythe’s daughter Emma, but as she spoke of Mrs. Smythe’s horse, she wondered if he had conjured up a vision of Emma. Regular discipline seemed to stabilize him. He grew quieter and closer to his grandmother, a woman he’d always feared and loved. Margaret saw no more evidence of smutty magazines. For this, she was grateful.
Given his improved deportment and compliance at home and in the laundry, it occurred to Margaret that Richie might have foregone his maga
