Physically, however, she bore no traces of this continual restraint. On the contrary, her slender figure matured to womanly proportions. Little children, seeing her, smiled responsively at her, or clamored to be taken into her arms, there was such a tender mother-look about her. By degrees her friends began to feel the repose of her intellect and the sympathy of her face, and came to regard her as the queen of confidantes. Young girls with their continual love episodes and excitements, ambitious youths with their whimsical schemes of life and aspirations of love, sought her out openly. Few of these latter dared hope for any individual thought from her, though any of the older men would have staked a good deal for the knowledge that she singled him for her consideration.
Arnold viewed it all with inward satisfaction. He regarded memory but as a sort of palimpsest; and he was patiently waiting until his own name should appear again, when the other’s should have been sufficiently obliterated.
It was a severe winter, and everybody appreciated the luxury of a warm home. December came in wet and cold, and la grippe held the country in its disagreeable hold. The Levices were congratulating themselves one evening on their having escaped the epidemic.
“I suppose the secret of it lies in the fact that we do not coddle ourselves,” observed Levice.
“If you were to coddle yourself a little more,” retorted his wife, “you would not cough every morning as you do. Really, Jules, if you do not consult a physician, I shall send for Kemp myself. I actually think it is making you thin.”
“Nonsense!” he replied carelessly; “it is only a little irritation of the throat every morning. If the weather is clear next week, I must go to New York. Eh, Louis?”
“At this time of the year!” cried Mrs. Levice, in expostulation.
“Some one has to go, and the only one that should is I.”
“I think I could manage it,” said Louis, “if you would see about the other adjustment while I am gone.”
“No, you could not,”—when Levice said “no,” it seldom meant an ultimate “yes.” “Besides, the trip will do me good.”