Alpha Book

Nina will--she gave it to me, the darling. Austin
admires it, too, of course, but he doesn't notice such things very
closely; and Gerald isn't here. . . . Thank you for letting me show it
to you before I go down."
She gave both his hands a friendly little shake and, glancing down at
her skirt in blissful consciousness of its perfection, stepped backward
into her own room.
Later, while he stood at his dresser constructing an immaculate knot in
his white tie, Nina knocked.
"Hurry, Phil! Oh, may I come in? . . . You ought to be downstairs with
us, you know. . . . And it was very sweet of you to be so nice to
Eileen. The child had tears in her eyes when I went in. Oh, just a
single diamond drop in each eye; your sympathy and interest did
it. . . . I think the child misses her father on an occasion such as
this--the beginning of life--the first step out into the world. Men do
not understand what it means to us; Gerald doesn't, I'm sure. I've been
watching her, and I know the shadow of that dreadful tragedy falls on
her more often than Austin and I are aware of.


Pages:
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73