Actresses -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction; Foster children -- Fiction; Girls -- Fiction; Social classes -- Fiction
Well, she would think of some way of getting at Clifton and Jack some
other time. Something would happen. And in the meantime, Mrs. Baron
was gone and there were various things which might be done now which
couldn’t be done at any other time.
Rummaging among her possessions in search of an inspiration she came
upon a hat covered with little silk butterflies.
She had the liveliest appreciation of the silk butterflies, though she
did not quite approve of the shape of the hat upon which they were
bestowed. On the other hand, there was a hat of adorable shape which
had an insufficient decoration in the form of a spray of roses which
were not of the right color, and which were in too advanced a stage of
development.
In another moment a small pair of scissors was travelling over one of
the hats with a snipping sound and a startlingly destructive effect.
The snipping was not suspended until voices, subdued and confidential,
arose in the near-by sitting-room.
Baron had come down-stairs, too, and was talking to Flora.
“The thing for us to do,” Baron was saying, “is to go places, and let
him know about it beforehand. Any place at all. For a walk in the park,
or to the theatre. I wouldn’t be in the way. I would know what to do.
And after--that is to say, when.... What I mean is that in the course
of time you could just tell mother that you’ve made up your mind, and
that it’s your business, and not hers. The thing is absurd. She’s got
no reasons. We’ve no right to let her have her own way entirely in
such a case.”
Bonnie May dropped the hat into her lap, and paid no attention to
the shower of butterflies and roses which fell to the carpet. Quite
stealthily she went out into the hall. A moment of indecision--and then
she descended the stairs to the first floor.
“There’s _that_ to be attended to, too,” she was reflecting.
She went to the telephone immediately. She had noiselessly closed the
dining-room door, so she wouldn’t be heard. And after very little delay
she had Mr. Addis on the other end of the wire.
“It’s Bonnie May,” she said in response to Addis’s greeting. “I called
you up to tell you that you’re wanted here this afternoon. It’s really
important. I think, honestly, you ought to come. Can you?”
“Why, yes, certainly!” came back the vigorous and pleasant voice of
Addis. “Yes, I’ll come right away.”
In the hall she paused, thrilled by the contemplation of a good,
forbidden deed. Then the warm sunlight, finding its way in through the
ground-glass door, enticed her, and she went out into the vestibule.
There she stood looking out on the street.
Clearly, fate was on her side.
Almost immediately two immaculately dressed gentlemen, moving with
superb elegance, passed the gate.
Bonnie May ran down the steps, calling to them. “Clifton!” was the word
that penetrated the chaos of street noises, and “Oh, Jack!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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