Of course the two other women of the household immediately sensed what was happening. But Penton remained pathetically blind....
What an incredible man! A mole would have gotten a glimmer of the gradually developing change.
With bravado I acted my part of the triangular drama ... but Hildreth carried off her part with an easiness, a femininely delicate boldness, that compelled my utmost admiration ... she even threw suspicious Ruth and Darrie off the scent—at times.
The night of the performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream I shall never forget ... Hildreth as Titania in her green tights ... I sat in the back (she would not allow me in the front because it might fluster her, she pleaded) and enjoyed a sense of blissful ownership in her, as she glided about, through the Shakespearean scenes ...—such a sense of ownership that it ran through my veins with a full feeling, possessed my entire body....
Who was this little, alien man, Penton Baxter, who also dared claim her possession!...
Nonchalantly and with an emotion of inner triumph I let him walk homeward with Hildreth, while I paced along with Ruth and Darrie.
Let him congratulate her now on her triumph ... that she had had, as Titania, there under the wide heaven of stars, in our outdoor theatre ... in the midst of the Chinese lanterns that swayed in the slight breaths of summer air....
Later on, when she was warm in my arms, I would congratulate her ...—tell her she was greater than Bernhardt ... than Duse herself!... tell her every incredible thing that lovers hold as mere, commonplace truths.