"Oh," Dino said, "it's like that."
"Well!" Mary Ann interjected. "Isn't it nice to all be together again, and right here at home!"
"Don't try to cheer him up," Dino said to his wife. "It won't work."
Michael, the headwaiter, brought menus, and they studied them silendy for a minute, then ordered. Stone ordered another drink, too.
"Two before dinner," Dino said.
"He's entitled," Mary Ann pointed out.
They chatted in a desultory manner until dinner arrived, then ate, mostly in silence.
"Mary Ann," Stone said, when the dishes had been taken away, "your father came to see me this afternoon."
"He did?" she asked, surprised. "Where?"
"At my house."
"That's interesting," she said. "He doesn't do much calling on people. What did he want?"
"To know my intentions toward Arrington and Dolce."
"Is that all? What did you tell him?"
"That I don't know what my intentions are toward Arrington, but that Dolce and I are not getting married."
"That wasn't what he wanted to hear, I'm sure."
"I know, but I had to be honest with him."
"That's always the best policy with Papa."
"When he left, he said something that scared me a little."
Dino spoke up. "That's what he does best."
"What did he say?" Mary Ann asked.
"He said Dolce is ill, and that she might be dangerous."
"Oh," Mary Ann said quietly.
"What did he mean by that?"
Mary Ann didn't seem to be able to look at him. "I think Stone needs to know, Honey," Dino said. "Answer his question."
Mary Ann sighed. "When Dolce doesn't get what she wants, she… reacts badly."
"Now, there's news," Dino snorted.
"Exactly how does she react badly?" Stone asks.
"She, ah, breaks things," Mary Ann said slowly. "People, too." Goon.
"When she was, I guess, six, Papa gave her a puppy. She tried to train it, but it wouldn't do what she told it to. It was like she expected it to understand complete sentences, you know? Well, she… I don't want to say what she did."
"She broke the puppy?" Dino asked.