Sue nodded toward Hattie, standing so slim and still beside her father.
"So my little sister will feel all right about it," she explained.
"Because nothing, Wallace, must worry her. It's her happiness we want
to think of, isn't it?—dear Hattie's."
"Oh, yes! Yes!"
"The address—I'll write it down." She bent over the desk.
Wallace went to Hattie. "Good-by," he said, tremulously. "I'll be right back." He leaned to kiss her, but she turned her face away. His lips brushed only her cheek.
Sue thrust the address into his hand. "Here. And, oh, Wallace, be very kind to her!"
"Of course. Yes. I'll do what I can." But he seemed scarcely to know what he was saying. He fingered the card Sue had given him, and watched Hattie.
Urging him toward the vestibule, Sue glanced down at her bridesmaid's dress, then searchingly about the room—for a hat, a wrap. "And bring them together—won't you?" she went on, taking Balcome's arm. At the door, she crowded in front of him.
"Susan," challenged her mother.
"Yes, mother,"—coming short, with a whimsically comical look that acknowledged discovery and defeat.
"They can find their way out. Come back."