"It's only Carl," he said
"It's only Carl," he said. "Am I interrupting you?"
The really dreadful collapsed expression on Molly's face Stanton did not appear to notice at all. He merely walked over to the mantelpiece, and leaning his elbows on the little cleared space in front of the clock, stood staring fixedly at the time-piece which had not changed its quarter-of-three expression for forty years.
"It's almost half-past seven," he announced pointedly, "and I can stay till just eight o'clock."
Only the little grandmother smiled.
Almost immediately: "It's twenty minutes of eight now!" he announced severely.
"My, how time flies!" laughed the little grandmother.
When he turned around again the little grandmother had fled.
But Molly did not laugh, as he himself had laughed on that faraway, dreamlike evening in his rooms. Instead of laughter, two great tears welled up in her eyes and glistened slowly down her flushing cheeks.