"A duty!" the old lady muttered. "The devil fly away with it!"
"I beg your pardon, grandmother?"
"I beg yours, my dear. Never swear before a lady! No, no. You haven't any duty towards me."
"But there are other calls." Electra struggled to find words that should not tell too much. She ended lamely, "There are calls I cannot disregard." There rose dimly before her mind some of the injunctions that bid men leave father and mother for the larger vision.
"There's Billy Stark," said the old lady, with a quickened interest. "Fancy! he's been away all day."
Electra rose and went in again. She was not sensitive now to the ironies of daily life, but it did occur to her that her grandmother was more excited at seeing Billy Stark home after a day in town than by her own great conclusion. Electra had thought solemnly about the magnitude of the decision she was making when she gave up the care of grandmother to follow that larger call, but again she found herself outside the line of recognized triumphs. She had announced her victory and nobody knew it.
Billy Stark had brought his old friend a present: a box of the old-fashioned peppermints she liked. She took off the string with a youthful eagerness.
"My dear," said she, "what do you think has happened now?"
"I know what has happened to me," said Billy. He threw himself into a chair with an explosive sigh, half heat and half regret. "I've had business letters. I've got to be off."
"Off!" She regarded him in a frank dismay. "Billy, you break my heart!"