P. S’s. 1. Mother says I may go if you take me. She won’t listen to anybody else going along.
2. I gave Edwin back his frat. pin temp—would say temperarilly if I could spell it.
3. Kate looked happy, too. Wouldn’t that be fine!!
“The little matchmaker!” he chuckled at the stars; “concocted the rendezvous and all.... It’s young Bianca getting the elder Katherina out of the way, again!... Shrewd!... And her whole-hearted unselfish self, too.... Well, I feel decidedly better. Morris—dandy chap, clean, straight sort. I know ’em; true as—” His mind trailed off in search of a strong comparison. “Indecision is the vice of life.” He walked briskly and tried to shake off uncomfortable thoughts. “It’s fine to have things settled.... Oh, the luxurious sensation of a mind finally made up!” But he walked with a long stride, his hands thrust deep into pockets; and his eyes were staring ahead as if trying to pluck a new decision out of the darkness.
XIII
TOPIC NUMBER FOUR
WHERE are the landaus and barouches of yesteryear, overpowering symbols of upper caste? Gone with the calash, the chaise, the coach and the cabriolet. The formal vehicle of the Leverings was called “the carriage” to distinguish it from the informal surrey. The “carriage” was always driven by Mac, who donned for the purpose a special outfit—Mr. Levering’s minim of Quaker blood balked at anything suggesting livery—aimed to indicate that Mac was just a remove and a half from membership in the family. Mac’s name for them was “his blacks,” which the Leverings adopted as a private code.
“Oh, Mac!” Kate would haloo from the rear porch. “‘Blacks’ at three.”
“’Right, Mis’ Lev’ring.” Mac would quite comprehend that a call or a drive was on the program for the afternoon.
On the drive to Haverford, Mac was resplendent in new “blacks”; his white linen ascot shone beatifically from its dark setting, and his new square-blocked hat had a small cockade at the side—clearly contraband that had escaped the eye of Father Levering. The carriage was eloquent of labor.
Blynn remarked the added note of luxury.