“Good night, sir,” said Stacey, and left the room.
But in the hall outside he hesitated for a moment, and when he had gone to the garage and brought out his car he stopped it beside the house and returned to the living-room. He saw, as he opened the door, that his father was not reading but playing solitaire, and this, too, touched Stacey a little. Mr. Carroll looked up in surprise.
“I’m going to run over to see Phil and Catherine Blair for a little while,” Stacey said. “They don’t even know where I’ve been, and I ought to go. It occurred to me, sir, that just possibly you’d like to drive over there with me. Would you care to?”
Stacey had not the slightest idea that his father would accept. Mr. Carroll disliked going out in the evening. But, to Stacey’s surprise, he dropped his cards and rose at once.
“Why, yes, son, I’ll be glad to go along, if you really want me,” he replied. “I like your friends, the Blairs,” he added, in an apologetic tone, when he and Stacey were in the car. “Phil’s a thoughtful fellow, with talent, too, I should judge, though I don’t pretend to know anything about architecture. And Catherine’s a fine girl, an unusual girl.”
Again Stacey was surprised.
Phil himself opened the door, a look of warm pleasure glowing in his face. “Well, where the deuce have you been, Stacey?” he cried. “This is awfully good of you, Mr. Carroll! Come in! Come in!” And he ushered them into the house.
The sitting-room glowed, too. Light from a shaded reading-lamp fell on Catherine’s hair and face, illuminating the fine close-grained skin and accentuating the firm bony structure beneath it. Catherine was sitting in a low easy chair, over the arms of which her two sons leaned closely to gaze down at the large book that lay open on her knees. She rose swiftly at sight of her guests, but with a shy grace. Her hand went to her hair.
As for the two boys, they dashed at Stacey immediately.
For just an instant, while he held them off, he considered the scene wistfully. It all seemed so far from any mood his tortured inharmonious spirit was able to achieve.