CHAPTER VIII
THREE days afterward Ethel called on Dora Stanhope at the Savoy. She found her alone, and she had evidently been crying. Indeed, she frankly admitted the fact, declaring that she had been “so bored and so homesick, that she relieved she had cried her beauty away.” She glanced at Ethel’s radiant face and neat fresh toilet with envy, and added, “I am so glad to see you, Ethel. But I was sure that you would come as soon as you knew I wanted you.”
“Oh, indeed, Dora, you must not make yourself too sure of such a thing as that! I really came to London to get some new gowns. I have been shopping all morning.”
“I thought you had come in answer to my letter. I was expecting you. That is the reason I did not go out with Basil.”
“Don’t you expect a little too much, Dora? I have a great many interests and duties——”
“I used to be first.”
“When a girl marries she is supposed to——”
“Please don’t talk nonsense. Basil does not take the place of everyone and everything else. I think we are often very tired of each other. This morning, when I was telling him what trouble I had with my maid, Julia, he actually yawned. He tried to smother the yawn, but he could not, and of course the honeymoon is over when your bridegroom yawns in your face while you are telling him your troubles.”
“I should think you would be glad it was over. Of all the words in the English language ‘honeymoon’ is the most ridiculous and imbecile.”