On Tuesday night I was going to a dance. Mother and father were dining
out and were to meet me later, so I was free until ten o'clock. That
night Henry brought Russell Hill.
I kept them waiting a few minutes, and came down ready for the car. At
the last minute I pulled my hair a bit loose over my face, and the
effect was exactly right.
Henry was horribly uncomfortable, and left in a few minutes. He was
going with some people to the dance, and would see us later. About all
he said was with his usual tact.
"You two ought to get together," he said. "There's a lot too much being
whispered these days, and not enough talking out loud."
With that he went, and we two were left facing each other.
"This is one of Henry's inspirations, Miss Katherine," Russell said.
"I--I don't usually have to wait until the family is out before I make a
call."
"Families are queer," I said non-committally. There was a window open
and I stood near it, under a pink lamp, and let my hair blow about.
"Are we going to sit down, or am I to be banished as soon as I've
explained that I am a safe companion for a débutante?"
He was plainly laughing at me, although he was uncomfortable too. And I
have some spirit left.
"I am afraid you are giving me credit for too much interest," I said.
"This is Henry's idea, you know. You needn't defend yourself to me. You
look--entirely safe."
He hated that. No man likes to look entirely safe. He put his hands in
his pockets and half closed his eyes.
"Humph!" he said. "Then I gather that this whole meeting is a mistake.
I'm respectable enough to be uninteresting, and the ban your people have
placed on me doesn't particularly concern you!"
"That's not quite true," I said slowly. "I--if I ever got a chance to
know you really well, I'm sure we'd be--but I'll never get a chance, you
know."
"Upon my word," he broke out, "I'd like to know just what your people
have heard! But that doesn't matter. What really matters"--he had hardly
taken his eyes off me--"what really matters is that I am going to see
you again. Often!"
"It's impossible."
"Rot! We're always going to the same places. Am I absolutely warned
off?"
"You're not. But I am."
He began to walk up and down the room. Half an hour before he had never
given me a thought. Henry, I knew, had lugged him there by sheer force
and a misplaced sense of justice. And now he was pacing about in a rage!
He stopped rather near me.
"If it's Mrs. Warrington all the fuss is about, it's imbecile," he said.
"In the first place, there never was anything to it. In the second
place, it's all over anyhow."
"I don't know what the fuss is about."
"You know the whole thing. Don't pretend you don't. You've got the face
of a little saint, with all that fluffy hair, but your eyes don't belong
to the rest, young lady. Are you going to dance with me to-night?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Well, you'll give me a little time, won't you? I suppose we can sit in
a closet and talk, or hide on a veranda."
"It's--it's rather sneaking, isn't it?"
"That doesn't hurt it any for me."
So I promised, and, the car being announced, he put my wrap round my
shoulders.
"Stunning hair you've got," he said from behind me. "Thank heaven for
hair that isn't marceled and glued up in a net!"