"But my dear girl, Polly doesn’t——”
"I know. I only said she acted like people that do. It’s just a word people use about any one that’s quiet and——”
"Mrs. Geraldine’s very reserved—quite different from me. I’m obliged to say everything that comes into my head. But I dare say her life has made her like that."
"Why has it? What kind of life has she had?" asked Angelica, with naked curiosity.
"My dear, you see, she was married before to a perfectly dreadful sort of man. He drank, and I don’t know what else—absolutely no good at all. You see, she used to be a concert singer when she was young. It’s very interesting to hear her tell about her days in Germany, when she studied there. And then she came back to New York and got an engagement to sing in one of the first-class restaurants. She really comes from a nice family—Ohio people—not in society at all, but nice. They weren’t at all well off, so I suppose they were glad to have her earning her own living. Anyway, they were away off in Ohio, so they couldn’t have stopped her very well, could they?"
"No," said Angelica, astounded at the very idea of the melancholy Mrs. Geraldine singing in a restaurant.
"She must have been quite a pretty girl," Mrs. Russell went on. "I’ve seen pictures of her. She says she had the most distressing experiences with men, following her, and so on. She says she was really just about to give up the restaurant singing when one night this tremendously handsome man was waiting for her when she came out. She says he was so different from the usual sort—so gentlemanly, and so on; and he’d been so impressed with her. My dear, have I too much powder on?"
"Yes, on your forehead. Who was this feller—the handsome one?"
Mrs. Russell stared at her in perplexity. Then she suddenly recollected the subject of their talk.
"Oh, yes, of course! He told her afterward that he was so much impressed with her refinement and distinction. I suppose she did look well, standing up on the platform in a white dress. And her voice is charming. He walked home with her that night and they were married three weeks later. Of course, as she says, she didn’t really know him at all; and he turned out to be perfectly dreadful. She went through the greatest misery with him. He was killed in an accident; he was in a taxi with some chorus-girl. I don’t really know much about him; she doesn’t like to talk about him, but I’ve seen a picture of him. He was handsome, but coarse, I think. He was quite successful in his business, whatever it was, but he spent all he made, and only left her a tiny little income. She made it do, though, she lived so quietly."