Ford heard the shrill little voice innocently maligning him, and swore to himself; but, he did not move for all that.

He lay thinking and fighting discouragement and thirst, while little table sounds came through the partition and made a clicking accompaniment to his thoughts.
If he were free, he was wondering between spells of temptation, would it do any good?
Would Josephine care?
There was no answer to that, or if there was he did not know what it was.
After awhile the two women began talking; he judged that Buddy had left them, because it was sheer madness to speak so freely before him.

At first he paid no attention to what they were saying, beyond a grudging joy in the sound of Josephine's voice.

It had come to that, with Ford! But when he heard his name spoken, and by her, he lifted shamelessly to an elbow and listened, glad that the walls were so thin, and that those who dwell in thin-partitioned houses are prone to forget that the other rooms may not be quite empty.

They two spent most of their waking hours alone together, and habit breeds carelessness always.
"Do you suppose he's drunk ?" Mrs.Kate asked, and her voice was full of uneasiness.