Shut off from her own family, she was equally shut off from Dick’s mother. Mrs. Harrison had been away at the time of the actual break and she was humiliated by it all. Most seriously of all was she hurt by the fact that Dick had gone to his club and not home to her. When he did come to her he absolutely refused to discuss the situation. So Mrs. Harrison went to Cecily and found it equally hard to get information from her.
“You’re the talk of the town—you and Dick—and both of you mute. What is the trouble? Has Dick been misbehaving himself?”
“No,” answered Cecily. “No, indeed, Mrs. Harrison. It is just that we don’t seem very happy and I thought—we hoped it would be better for us if we separated.”
“But without a reason!”
“We don’t agree about marriage. It’s so impossible to explain.”
“Is this stuff I hear about your refusing to go into society true? Or is it true that Dick is enamored of this Mrs. Allenby?”
That struck fire. “It is quite true that Dick and I did not agree about the kind of society we cared to enter. What there is in any feeling for Mrs. Allenby is really for Dick to say, Mrs. Harrison.”
“It’s ridiculous. He’s not in love with that young woman.”
“He prefers her type of woman to what he calls the domestic type,” answered Cecily coldly. There was nothing in this little woman, so annoyed about scandal, to excite any pity or kindly feeling in her at all.
Mrs. Harrison rose, tapping her fingers nervously on her bag.