"Havens and Mrs. W. went hill-climbing this afternoon and were gone for
an hour before I missed them. Then I took Aunt Jo and Debby out for a
quick climb. Confound Aunt Jo! She got tired in ten minutes and Debby
wouldn't go on without her. I think it was a put-up job. The others didn't
return till after six. She asked me if I'd like to walk about the grounds
after dinner. Said I would. We did. Havens went with us. Couldn't shake
him to save my life."
SATURDAY NIGHT.
"I have to watch myself constantly to keep from calling her Mrs. Wharton.
I believe writing her real name is bad policy. It makes me forget. After
this I shall call her Miss Dering, and I'll speak of him as Dudley. This
morning he asked me to call him 'Jim.' He calls me 'Sam.' Actors do get
familiar. When she came downstairs to go driving with him this morning
I'll swear she was the prettiest thing I ever saw. They took a lunch and
were gone for hours. I'd like to punch his face. She was very quiet all
evening, and I fancied she avoided me. I smelt liquor on his breath just
before bedtime.
"_One A. M._--I thought everybody had gone to bed, but they are out
there on the veranda talking. Just outside her windows. I distinctly heard
him call her 'dearest.' Something must have alarmed them, for they parted
abruptly. He walked the veranda for an hour, all alone. Plenty of
evidence."
SUNDAY NIGHT.
"For appearance's sake he took Miss Crozier for a walk to-day. I went to
the chapel down the hill with Miss Dering and Aunt Josephine. Aunt
Josephine put a ten-dollar bill in the box. Thinks she's squaring herself
with the Lord, I suppose. Miss Dering was not at all talkative and gave
every sign of being uncomfortable because he had the audacity to go
walking with another girl. In the afternoon she complained of being ill
and went to her room. Later on she sent for Dudley and Mrs. Van Haltford.
They were in her room all afternoon. I smoked on the terrace with Debby.
She is the most uninteresting girl I ever met. But she's on to their game.
I know it because she forgot herself once, when I mentioned Miss Dering's
illness, and said: 'Poor girl! She is in a most trying position. Don't you
think Mr. Dudley is a splendid fellow?' I said that he was very
good-looking, and she seemed to realize she had said something she ought
not to have said and shut up. I'm sorry she's sick, though. I miss that
parasol dreadfully. She always has it, and I can see her a mile away.
Usually he carries it, though. Well, I suppose he has a right--as original
owner. Jim and I smoked together this evening, but he evidently smells a
mouse. He did not talk much, and I caught him eying me strangely several
times."
MONDAY NIGHT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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