“Yes—up till the hour of going to press; on and off. But I can counter it.”
“With what do you counter it?”
“Fascination,” admitted Deb simply.
Gillian laughed, but would not explain her laughter. From the tone in which Deb had said, “I can counter it,” it was delightfully evident that Samson was providing his wife with a new game, the game of re-conquest.... “It keeps the child occupied and amused,” reflected Gillian; “and of course she’ll coax down his suspicions in the end, especially——”
“It’ll be all right in December,” she prophesied to Deb, who in her turn gurgled mirthfully and refused to say why.
“‘The Colonel’s lady and Judy O’Grady
Are sisters under their skins.’”
—you representing Judy in this instance, with the entire bulk of the Phillips’ Illusion in the rôle of the Colonel’s lady.”
“Define the Phillips’ Illusion. It crops up in your conversation like King Charles’ head.”
“The Illusion is that any girl would love Samson; that I love Samson; that I am happy; that I am doing my best to make Samson happy; that we are all happy together; that we are a united family. Amen. In the end the Illusion will become fact. It will overpower me ... it’s already much stronger than I am.”