"He'll just stay over here by himself and putter with bulbs and things and get into a rut. I know he'll never go to a place except to the office when I'm not here to prod him."
"Well, the office is a pretty absorbing thing."
"Yes, I know it, but—don't you think that as people get older their work just kind of goes along without all of them that there is, and the rest gets into a groove?"
"Good gracious, what an uncomfortable thought!"
"He's gotten used to me in a whole lot of little ways he doesn't know anything about, and I'm afraid," she hesitated, took a quick summary of Jean and added hastily as she saw Sidney coming to her, "Would you mind, sometimes, just prodding him along a bit, Mrs. Herrick, till it all settles down again?"
"I'll prod to the best of my ability, but I'm afraid it isn't promising much."
"Oh, it's only for a little while. I'll be back in October to tend to the matter myself."
"Till then, perhaps I can manage it." Jean laughed, too, but she had a tenderness for this big girl who was afraid that Jerome Stuart would get into a rut.
In spite of the pleasant informality of the supper, it seemed a long-drawn-out affair to Jean, and try as she would, she could not share the gayety. With the exception of Mrs. Cather and Sidney's aunt, the rest were Alice's age, and there was a feeling of perfect assurance and untried strength in the air, that made Jean feel old. Seated between a young man interested in subnormal children and a girl cubist, who was advancing an intricate argument from which Jean could not gather whether Cubism was subnormal, or subnormality was misunderstood Cubism, Jean struggled to give her attention, but her thoughts drifted farther and farther away, and at last withdrew from the discussion altogether.
From his end of the table, Jerome snatched glances at Jean, and it was only the necessity of keeping Mrs. Cather amused that prevented Jerome, too, from sinking into a like silence, but he felt the mood, a strong wire, binding them together. He was as relieved as Jean when supper was over, and while the girls struggled with Alice to let them "do the thing as it ought to be done" and the young men began clearing the room and the veranda for a dance, he sought Jean again. As he reached her, Alice's clear voice rose above the laughter.