Next month.
I am so glad you will be your own master at last! Will you go in on a
later train in the mornings, dear?
Ill take an earlier one.
But then youll come out sooner in the afternoon?
Ill come out much later.
Oh, oh! she sighed, with the prevision of long hours of loneliness for
herself.
At least, you can take more than that miserable two weeks holiday in
the summer.
My dear girl, I shall probably have no vacation at all. You dont
understand; Ive got to work.
There was another pause. The fire was burning low, and the room had sunk
into partial obscurity. She was the first to speak, as before,
conquering anew the tremulousness in her voice:
Did you hear me say that Theodosia is coming next month?
Yes. How long is she to stay?
For all winter. Shes to study music, you remember?
For all winter! He sat up straight with the emphasis of his words.
Why, where will you put her?
Oh, Ill manage that. But I do wish we had a larger house; this is
maddening sometimes.
Perhaps well be able to build some day.
Oh, if we could really have our own house!
She paused, her imagination leaping forward to that future which is the
summit of good to suburban dwellers, when the contracted space of a
rented house can be changed for a roomy one honeycombed with impossible
closets and lined with hard-wood floors throughout.
I know exactly how I should furnish it; I saw the loveliest things
to-day in town.
Already the thought of brass and mahogany and Oriental rugs, rich in
texture and delicious in coloring, filled her mind.
To Lois, an intelligent and practical woman, the possession of money
meant the opportunity to buy; the possession of yet more money would
mean more opportunity to buy. To Justin, on the other hand, it meant the
ability to pay; the comfort of being able to accede, with ease and
promptness, to the demands upon him. Like most American husbands in his
station, the sum spent upon house and family far exceeded in ratio his
own personal expenses. There were a few luxuries which he casually
looked forward to enjoying, but beyond this money represented to him
pre-eminently further business possibilities, the power to play
competently in the great game, with the result of a sufficient provision
for his wife and children in case of his death. His heart leaped now at
the thought of taking a front rank among the players. If in this next
year
Do you think I had better buy the new rug when I go to town Friday, or
wait until next month? asked Lois suddenly.
You had better wait, said Justin, with decision. He rose, and added:
You must go to bed, Lois.
She rose also, in obedience, and he kissed her officially.
Good night.
You are not going to sit up later!
Just a minute. I want to light the candle and look for something in
this paper I forgot to notice earlier.
He loved his wife, but felt, without owning it, that he must stay for a
brief space beyond the sound of her voice.
Now, dont wait another moment, or youll get cold. He spoke
authoritatively. The fires almost out.
He had already turned from her, and was sitting down by the dim flicker
of the newly lighted candle, absorbed once more in figures, with the
newspaper before him. The midnight hour had failed of its inspiration;
both experienced the spiritual dearth and fatigue which follows
time-worn and trivial conversation.
Lois pensive eyes were full of a wistful question as she left the room;
but after a slight interval she returned with a gliding step and softly
placed a fresh log upon the dull red embers of the dying fire, and
fanned them noiselessly until a flame leaped out again, holding her
white draperies to one side the while, with one long curl falling across
her bosom. As her husband looked up, her beautiful self-forgetting smile
shone out and became a part of the light around him before she vanished
once more through the doorway.