He called the waiter, paid his bill and tip,—he was an extremely liberal tipper; “it’s expected of us,” he used to say, meaning that it was expected of people like the New York Lanleys,—and went away.
In old times he had been an inventor of many clever tricks for getting up-town by unpopular elevated trains and horse-cars that avoided the crowd, but the subway was a great leveler, and he knew no magic except to take a local in rush hours. At three o’clock, however, even this was not necessary. He took an express, and got off at the Grand Central, turned up Park Avenue, and then east. He had just found out that he was going to visit Mrs. Wayne.
He read the names in the vestibule, never doubting that Dr. Parret was a masculine practitioner, and hesitated at the name of Wayne. He thought he ought to ring the bell, but he wanted to go straight up. Some one had left the front door unlatched. He pushed it open and began the steep ascent.
She came to the door of the flat herself. She had a funny little gray shawl about her shoulders and a pen in her hand. She tried to make her voice sound very cordial as she greeted him, but he thought he caught something that sounded as if, while perfectly well disposed to him, she couldn’t for the life of her imagine why he had come.
“Come in,” she said, “though I’m afraid it’s a little cold in here. Our janitor—”
“Let me light your fire for you,” he answered, and extracting a parlor-match from his pocket,—safety-matches were his bugbear,—he stooped, and put the flame to the fire. As he did so he understood that it was not the mere forgetfulness of a servant that had left it unlighted, but probably a deliberate economy, and he rose crimson and unhappy.
It took him some time to recover, and during the entire time she sat in her gray shawl, looking very amiable, but plainly unable to think of anything to say.
“I saw your son in Farron’s office to-day.”
“Mr. Farron has been so kind, so wonderfully kind!”
Only a guilty conscience could have found reproach in this statement, and Lanley said: