There she stood in the doorway. The light behind her shone on her bright hair, making it glitter like gold wire. She had a nice color in her cheeks, and across her nose was a band of freckles that seemed to Wilder funny and very touching. She had serious blue eyes. She was a serious girl altogether, but he always felt that the seriousness was not quite honest. He strongly suspected that there were moments when she laughed.
She glanced at Leonard as he came in, and smiled seriously. He would have said that he was sorry he was late, only that Marian would have heard, and it would[Pg 487] have been mean to be sorry to Violet and not to her.
As he went upstairs to wash, he met his brother Evan coming down, with a clean collar, and his dark hair still damp. He looked neat and subdued, yet cheerful. Evan was always cheerful. His valiant smile did not soothe the cynic, who came downstairs worse than ever.
They all sat down at the table.
“Ah! Tomato soup!” said Evan, bravely and brightly.
“Tomatoes have gone up awfully,” observed Marian.
“Listen!” said Violet. “That taxi—isn’t it stopping here?”
“Good Lord!” cried Evan, springing up. “A patient!”
“Probably an accident who can’t afford to pay,” said Marian.
Evan retired, so that he might be mysteriously invisible to any patient, and Marian went to open the door.