“Do you know,” he said, “at our dinner last night (Mother gave a dinner before your dance) some of us decided to go on strike, to stand up for our own ideas more practically against our elders. Younger generation stuff. We all used to like Elsie tremendously, and now we are going to treat her just exactly as though nothing had happened, if she’ll let us. I think she will, too. She was all right last night.”
Kate turned to look up at Jack under the umbrella. The brown eyes that returned her look had lost their easy laughter and were earnest with the glow of a cause.
“Granny’s had her way long enough,” he continued. “Our mothers and fathers never really cared a bit, you know. It’s just those more ancient ones. They barely survived the shock. You see their daughters and sons had been playing around with him, and any one of their daughters might have married him. Granny says her grandson (meaning me) is going to have the protection her daughter didn’t have (meaning Mother). It’s really just a joke. And we only humoured ’em because they were so rabid. Now we’re sorry we were so soft. I wanted to tell you.”
“I don’t understand,” Kate said, quickly. “Not one word. Can’t you explain better? What happened that was so awful? What was the thing that shocked them so? And what has it to do with Elsie?”
Until this minute she had not wanted such information, when it came, to come from outside. She had felt that to learn that way would be disloyal of her. But now that her whole mind was turned to helping Elsie she wanted to know all she could. She wanted to get hold of the end of the tangle, any way, and perhaps then there would be some chance of straightening it out. The information that Jack was apparently able to give her would surely constitute that end; once having that in her fingers she might unravel snarl after snarl for herself.
Jack, however, was not prepared for her questions. He whistled, startled. “Don’t you know what the fuss has been about?” he asked. “Don’t you know about anything? I thought you were only pretending yesterday.”
“No, truly. Not a thing. Aunt Katherine was surprised that I didn’t know, too. But she wouldn’t tell me. You tell me.”
“Why, it doesn’t seem fair. I thought, of course, you knew. But you did know there was something?”
“Yes, almost the first minute I got here. Elsie acted so queerly. And then she said she hardly knew you. And all the time there you were living right next door. It was puzzling. Now tell me.”
“Well, if they want you to live in ignorance it’s hardly up to me to enlighten you, is it?” Jack was very ill at ease.