“Oh, I’ve been involved for over a year now. It’s going to be the greatest fun ... you wait and see.”
“But....”
“I was the one who got Iris herself involved. I thought she looked a little peaked, a little bored. I had no idea of course she’d get in so deep, but it will probably turn out all right I think she’s in love with him.”
“Don’t be such a gossip,” said Hastings sharply. “You always reduce everything to ... to biology. Cave isn’t that sort of man.”
“You know him too?” How fast it was growing, I thought.
“Certainly. Biggest thing I’ve done since....”
“Since you married that brassy blonde,” said Clarissa with her irrepressible rudeness. “Anyway, my dear, Iris took to the whole thing like a born proselyte, if that’s the word I mean ... the other’s a little boy, isn’t it? and it seems, from what she’s told me, that you have too.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” I was a little put out at both Iris and Clarissa taking me so much for granted.
“Say anything you like. It’s still the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Oh God, not avocado again!” The offending salad was waved away while Hastings muttered apologies. “Nasty, pointless things, all texture and no taste.” She made a face. “But I suppose that we must live off the fruits of the country and this is the only thing which will grow in California.” She moved without pause from Western flora to the problem of John Cave. “As for your own contribution, Eugene, it will depend largely upon what you choose to do. As I said, I never suspected that Iris would get in so deep and you may prove to be quite as surprising. This is the ground floor of course ... wonderful expression, isn’t it? the spirit of America: the slogan which broke the plains ... in any case, the way is clear. Cave liked you. You can write things for them, rather solid articles based on your inimitable misreadings of history. You can educate Cave, though this might be unwise since so much of his force derives from his eloquent ignorance; or you might become a part of the organization which is getting under way. I suppose Iris will explain that to you: it’s rather her department at the moment. All those years in the Junior League gave her a touching faith in the power of committees, which is just as well when handling Americans. As for the tambourines and cries of 'Come and Be Saved’ you are some twenty years behind the times. We ... or to be exact I ought to say 'they’ ... have more up-to-date plans.”
“Committees? What committees?”