The opportunity did not come until late that afternoon, and then Gloria shrugged her shoulders in a careless manner and laughed at Ruth. “Certainly not, foolish child. He doesn’t know that you live with me. I doubt if he even knows that I am alive. I’ve been off the stage so long and besides he never goes to the theatre. This art thing must be a new fad with him. Still he must have noticed the name. Even Percy can scarcely have forgotten my last name. Only don’t tell him about me. Don’t let him know that you are a relative, and don’t let him come to the house.” “The others are coming—Dorothy and Nels. I’m going to lend Dorothy a gown.” “Do they know anything about me?” asked Gloria. “No; you see I’ve been afraid to tell them just how happily I am situated. They are all so poor and I’ve been afraid that they’d not take me seriously if I told them that I have never been hungry or afraid of a landlord or any of the interesting things that seem to be common in their lives. They rather look down on the students that have an allowance from home, so I’ve never told them anything about myself. Probably I shan’t meet Mr. Pendragon at all. If he had wanted to meet me he would have come with Nels instead of sending the admission card, don’t you think so?” “Perhaps,” said Gloria. Then curiosity overcoming delicacy, Ruth asked her the question that had been in her mind all day. “Which one is Professor Pendragon?” “Which one?” Gloria’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Oh yes, I know what you mean, which one on my list. Percy was number one. I was very young when I married Percy and very ambitious. It was—let me see—eleven years ago and we were married just one year. I haven’t seen him for nine years or heard of him for at least five, and if you love me, Ruth, you won’t let him know who you are or you won’t mention me. You see I’ve been married twice since then and I don’t want to meet Percy. It would be painful to both of us. He can’t have any interest in me, and certainly l have none in him.” Her voice grew hard as she spoke the last words and her mouth set in a line that made her lips look almost thin, but her eyes were not hard. Some deep emotion looked out of them, but whether it was pain or hate, Ruth could not decide. She could understand that Gloria would be embarrassed at seeing her first husband, especially in view of the fact that he had had two successors, and that Gloria was contemplating a fourth marriage. As Ruth’s own admiration for Terry Riordan increased she found it increasingly difficult to believe that Gloria would reject him, so the fourth marriage seemed quite possible.