He was snubbed immediately. “THAT,” declared Mrs. Fosdick, with decision, “is the only thing that makes him possible.”
So Mrs. Fosdick's welcome was whole-handed if not whole-hearted. And her husband's also was cordial and intimate. The only member of the Fosdick household who did not regard the guest with favor was Googoo. That aristocratic bull-pup was still irreconcilably hostile. When Albert attempted to pet him he appeared to be planning to devour the caressing hand, and when rebuked by his mistress retired beneath a davenport, growling ominously. Even when ignominiously expelled from the room he growled and cast longing backward glances at the Speranza ankles. No, Googoo did not dissemble; Albert was perfectly sure of his standing in Googoo's estimation.
Dinner that evening was a trifle more formal than he had expected, and he was obliged to apologize for the limitations of his wardrobe. His dress suit of former days he had found much too dilapidated for use. Besides, he had outgrown it.
“I thought I was thinner,” he said, “and I think I am. But I must have broadened a bit. At any rate, all the coats I left behind won't do at all. I shall have to do what Captain Snow, my grandfather, calls 'refit' here in New York. In a day or two I hope to be more presentable.”
Mrs. Fosdick assured him that it was quite all right, really. Madeline asked why he didn't wear his uniform. “I was dying to see you in it,” she said. “Just think, I never have.”
Albert laughed. “You have been spared,” he told her. “Mine was not a triumph, so far as fit was concerned. Of course, I had a complete new rig when I came out of the hospital, but even that was not beautiful. It puckered where it should have bulged and bulged where it should have been smooth.”
Madeline professed not to believe him.
“Nonsense!” she declared. “I don't believe it. Why, almost all the fellows I know have been in uniform for the past two years and theirs fitted beautifully.”
“But they were officers, weren't they, and their uniforms were custom made.”
“Why, I suppose so. Aren't all uniforms custom made?”