"Sam, will you be quiet?"
The Major went on:
"I imagine the whole matter is for Edith to decide. It's really very simple. Let her send word to him that she does not care to see him, and he'll go away—no doubt of it."
"Why, of course," said Mrs. Thayer. "Edith, just tell Mary to say to Mr. What's-his-name——"
Again that creeping thrill came into the young man's hair. His world seemed balanced on a needle's point.
Then a chair was pushed back slowly. There was another little flurry. Again the blood poured over him like a splash of warm water, leaving him cold and wet.
"Edith!" called the astonished, startled voice of Mrs. Thayer. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to see him," said the girl's firm voice.
There was a soft clapping of two pairs of hands.
As she came through the portière, Edith walked like a princess. There was amazing resolution in her back-flung head, and on her face was the look of one who sets sail into unknown seas.