I should be very pleased if you would dine with us this evening at
half past seven.
Most sincerely yours,
MAUDE LANIER.
“But that’s the old note!” she cried.
Jumping up, she looked in the desk to see if the other was missing.
There it was, and, taking it out, she compared the two. Except for the
date, they were exactly alike, word for word. That made her laugh, and
laughter gave her courage.
“I shan’t go!” she thought. “I’m tired, and I don’t _want_ to go! I
don’t have to rush off every time I’m sent for!”
She reached out for the telephone at the bedside and, with admirable
poise, asked for and obtained the hotel where the elder Mrs. Lanier was
living. It seemed somehow an audacious, almost an arrogant thing, to
telephone to that majestic creature while lying in bed with her hair
down. And to refuse her invitation! It was an adventure--it was
thrilling!
But when Mrs. Lanier’s voice came to her over the wire, all Emily’s
exultation fled.
“You can’t come?” said Denis’s mother. “That’s most unfortunate!”
There was more than chilly indifference in her tone. There was actual
hostility, and something very like a threat.
“You see,” Emily explained, “I’m awfully tired, and--”
“If you will be at home, we shall call after dinner,” said Mrs. Lanier.
“Will you be alone?”
“Yes, of course,” Emily answered, with as much cordiality as she could
manage.
After she had hung up the receiver, the odd intonation of that word
“alone” still sounded in her ears. Wasn’t she always alone? Ever since
Denis had gone she had had no visitor, except one of the girls from the
office where she had formerly been employed. She had seen no one.
Not that she cared for that. This new life, this new dignity, the
delights of buying new books to read and new clothes to wear, of eating
in the restaurant downstairs, of going to a matinée now and then, and,
above all, of writing immense letters to Denis every evening, had filled
her time in the most satisfactory fashion.
“Who did she imagine would be here?” she thought, puzzled. “Some of my
awful friends that she couldn’t bear to see? I just wish Nina would drop
in again this evening!”
That wasn’t likely, however. In all probability she would have to
entertain her difficult guests alone, and, as it couldn’t be avoided,
she resolved to make the best of it. Her sitting room was far inferior
to theirs, but it was bright with flowers, books and magazines lay about
on the table, and it was warm!
“I’ll see if I can’t make them thaw out,” she decided. “Denis would be
so pleased!”