"Jimmie, for all our sakes, let's hope that your hope doesn't come out."
The young man was about to make a retort in kind, but at that instant his employer's attention was diverted to something more important. Virginia and Fanny had re-entered the boudoir from the bed chamber, and were standing conversing at the far end of the room.
On seeing his wife, the railroad man seemed to forget aught else. His eyes appeared to be fascinated by her; he closely watched her every movement. Never, it seemed to him, had Virginia looked so attractive. Was it her pale face, with the large appealing black eyes and small curved lips that thrilled him, or was it her negligée gown, the clinging folds of which imparted suggestive voluptuous lines to her slender figure, which set his sensualism aflame?
Virginia was painfully conscious of his steady stare and she trembled. Well she knew what it meant. If only she could keep her sister with her! But it was late; the Gillies would soon retire. Embarrassed by his persistent gaze, she went to the opposite side of the room on pretext of getting a photograph from a desk. Before she could reach it, her husband had intercepted her. Hoarsely he exclaimed:
"My, but you do look sweet to-night!"
He attempted to lay a hand on her arm and seemed about to bend over and kiss her, but she quickly evaded him. In a vexed tone, she exclaimed in a low voice:
"Please, Robert, behave yourself. Don't you see that there are others present?"
Thus unceremoniously repulsed, Stafford appealed to his sister-in-law, who had retreated to a corner on the other side of the room. In a maudlin, jocular way he asked:
"You wouldn't mind, would you? You wouldn't mind if a husband kissed his own wife."
"No, of course not," she smiled, at a loss what answer to make. She was anxious to defend her sister, but at the same time unwilling to displease her husband's employer.