“And don’t be piggy,” Dick warned, as lightly as if nothing were amiss with him. “Don’t dare steal the tiniest peek into Le Gallienne. You’ve got to share him with me later on. Hold up your hand.—Now, honest to God, Paul.”
“Honest to God,” she obeyed.
“And may jackasses dance on your grandmother’s grave—”
“And may jackasses dance on my grandmother’s grave,” she solemnly repeated.
The third morning of Graham’s absence, Dick saw to it that he was occupied with his dairy manager when Paula made her eleven o’clock pilgrimage, peeped in upon him, and called her “Good morning, merry gentleman,” from the door. The Masons, arriving in several machines with their boisterous crowd of young people, saved Paula for lunch and the afternoon; and, on her urging, Dick noted, she made the evening safe by holding them over for bridge and dancing.
But the fourth morning, the day of Graham’s expected return, Dick was alone in his workroom at eleven. Bending over his desk, signing letters, he heard Paula tiptoe into the room. He did not look up, but while he continued writing his signature he listened with all his soul to the faint, silken swish of her kimono. He knew when she was bending over him, and all but held his breath. But when she had softly kissed his hair and called her “Good morning, merry gentleman,” she evaded the hungry sweep of his arm and laughed her way out. What affected him as strongly as the disappointment was the happiness he had seen in her face. She, who so poorly masked her moods, was bright-eyed and eager as a child. And it was on this afternoon that Graham was expected, Dick could not escape making the connection.
He did not care to ascertain if she had replenished the lilacs in the tower room, and, at lunch, which was shared with three farm college students from Davis, he found himself forced to extemporize a busy afternoon for himself when Paula tentatively suggested that she would drive Graham up from Eldorado.
“Drive?” Dick asked.
“Duddy and Fuddy,” she explained. “They’re all on edge, and I just feel like exercising them and myself. Of course, if you’ll share the exercise, we’ll drive anywhere you say, and let him come up in the machine.”
Dick strove not to think there was anxiety in her manner while she waited for him to accept or decline her invitation.