"Looloo saw him at the station. She happened to be there, meeting a
friend of hers."
Gone!--He had come, not seen her, and gone!... A wave of bitterness
swept through Cally, impelling her to hit out at somebody.
"Of course. Isn't it _funny_ how your family always sees and hears
everything?"
But Hen answered, entirely unmoved, in fact with an air of modesty: "Any
family can do it who keep their eyes and ears open. For instance, good
old Looloo heard where he checked his baggage to: Palm Beach, if it's of
any interest to you."
"I don't believe it is, my dear. He'll be checking it back this way
again very soon, I've no doubt. Are we going the right way for
Dunbar Street?"
Hen shot at her a look of unconscious admiration. Her pretty cousin's
indifferent air seemed to support the theory that she had actually
rejected the prince of partis, which, in fact, was exactly what it was
meant to do. Hen had never really thought that Cally had it in her. She
threw her alert eye around to see where they were. The car had turned
south at Twelfth Street, had crossed Centre, and was now rolling into a
quarter of the town very different-looking, indeed, from Washington
Street. Hen said they were all right for Dunbar Street and told Cally to
cheer up. Much worse was coming, Hen said.
There was nothing personal in Hen's admonition, but the truth was that
Cally, gazing fixedly at the passing sights, felt anything but cheerful
at this moment. The Cooneys' tidings were staggering in their way.
What was the meaning of Mr. Canning's mysterious flying visit? That it
had to do with her she did not question; and, tensely meditating, she
presently found a hypothesis not unsatisfying after its kind. He had
come with the hope that she would at last make some generous overture
toward a reconciliation. More direct advances, after her three galling
rebuffs of him, he naturally could not bring himself to make. Yet he had
taken a long journey merely to put himself in her way--perhaps counting
on a chance meeting, more probably expecting that she, hearing of his
presence, would this time extend the sweet olive. The wormwood in it was
that she would have been perfectly willing to extend the olive if she
had only known....
The car, pushing through a mean and shabby neighborhood, offensive to
refined eyes, ears, and nostrils, now turned into a narrow street brisk
with the din of business, but by no means lovely to look upon. Recalling
the Cooney presence, Cally suddenly stirred with the deadly
self-protective instinct of her sex, and directed Hen to cease instantly
all thinking about her and Mr. Canning. She did it, needless to say,
scientifically, by saying with just the plausible degree of interest:
"I meant to ask you--what on _earth_ was the trouble with Hortense, Hen?
I supposed she was a perfect _fixture_ with you, an institution!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account