George looked every day of fifty. Now, if he would only patronize a smart tailor, join a gymnasium and work some of that adipose tissue off, he wouldn’t be half bad-looking. Unconsciously Norman Storm squared his shoulders and drew his slim, lithe form erect in his chair. Then his muscles tightened convulsively and he sat with every nerve tense, for a snatch of the disjointed conversation had penetrated his abstraction and its import stunned him.
“You weren’t in town to-day, then?” The question, seemingly a repetition of some statement of Leila’s, came stammeringly from Holworthy’s lips.
“Oh, dear, no!” Her laugh tinkled out upon the soft air. “I haven’t been in perfect ages! It doesn’t attract me now that spring is here.”
Not in town! But he had seen her himself! Sheer surprise held Storm silent for a moment.
When he spoke his voice sounded strange to his own ears.
“Where were you all day, Leila? What did you do with yourself?”
“I—I lunched out at the Ferndale Inn with Julie Brewster.” Her tone was low, and she did not turn her head toward him as she replied, adding hurriedly: “George, when are you going to give up those stuffy rooms of yours in town and take a bungalow out here? You can keep bachelor hall just as well; lots of nice men are doing it . . .”
Through the desultory talk which followed, Storm sat as if in a trance. If the blue tailored frock and hat with its saucy quill had not been familiar to him in every line, he could still not have mistaken that glimpse of her profile, the carriage of her head, the coil of shining, spun-gold hair. Ferndale Inn was twenty miles away, a good sixty from town, and inaccessible save by motor; she could not possibly have reached there in time for luncheon, for it was after twelve when she had passed him on that crowded, downtown street. She had told a deliberate falsehood; but why?
“I think if you don’t mind, George, I’ll say good night.” Leila rose at last, her white gown shimmering in the darkness. “I feel a bit tired and headachey——”
“Not faint, Leila?” Holworthy spoke in quick solicitude.