“Of course,” assented Bonnie May. She didn’t permit Mrs. Shepard to see that she had suddenly grown horribly uncomfortable.
“You know, when people see too much of each other, they—they get tired of each other,” added the sensible servant.
“The most natural thing in the world,” agreed Bonnie May. She felt that she suddenly hated Mrs. Shepard with a dreadful hatred. She did not at all realize that Mrs. Shepard was innocently laying down a general proposition which she had no thought of applying to any one in particular.
Still, she meant to behave graciously. “If I should ever come back again, you won’t mind if I come out and bake a little cake once in a while?” she asked. She was achieving her most friendly smile.
Mrs. Shepard turned toward her with energy. “I certainly won’t,” she declared. There were no general propositions in her mind now. She was saying to herself: “Was there ever such a cunning little thing?” “And I do hope you’ll come back—soon!” she added.
Bonnie May nodded brightly and entered the dining-room. She paused to adjust an article or two on the table. She tried to assume the manner of one who is quite light-hearted. She was preparing herself to play her part properly when she joined the family up-stairs.
They were all assembled in the sitting-room, and each was silent and self-centred when Baron dropped the evening paper to the floor and addressed Bonnie May when she entered the room, in the manner of one who has forgotten something.
“You’re not ready to go with me to the Thornburgs’,” he said. “You know we ought to be starting before long.”
The effect of this casual utterance was quite electrifying. The elder Baron dropped his paper, also, and removed his glasses. Flora, searching through a box of letters with some more or less definite end in view, permitted several envelopes with their contents to slip to the floor. She turned a gaze of marked disfavor upon her brother. Mrs. Baron merely swallowed with difficulty and looked decidedly uncomfortable.
Bonnie May felt the tension in the atmosphere. They were trying to be nice and polite about it, she decided. “I only have to put my hat on,” she said. She succeeded wholly in creating the impression that she was delighted with their planning, as usual.