To Boots she complained bitterly, having had visions of Selwyn and
Gerald as permanent fixtures of family support during the season now
imminent.
"I cannot understand," she said, "why Philip is acting this way. He need
not work like that; there is no necessity, because he has a comfortable
income. If he is determined to maintain a stuffy apartment somewhere, of
course I won't insist on his coming to us as he ought to, but to abandon
us in this manner makes me almost indignant. Besides, it's having
anything but a salutary effect on Eileen."
"What effect is it having on Eileen?" inquired Boots curiously.
"Oh, I don't know," said Nina, coming perilously close to a pout; "but I
see symptoms--indeed I do, Boots!--symptoms of shirking the winter's
routine. It's to be a gay season, too, and it's only her second. The
idea of a child of that age informing me that she's had enough of the
purely social phases of this planet! Did you ever hear anything like it?
One season, if you please--and she finds it futile, stale, and
unprofitable to fulfil the duties expected of her!"
Boots began to laugh, but it was no laughing matter to Nina, and she
said so vigorously.
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