"Is it possible you have not given up that idea, Thurston?" questioned Lady Canning, severely. She turned apologetically to Mrs. Stillwater. "He always had an insane desire to go to the North Pole, but I thought marriage had cured him of it. Indiana, put your foot down on that idea, once and for all."
"I put my foot down!" exclaimed Indiana. "Oh dear no—he's the master. But let us hope he will think better of it." She folded her hands severely, bearing with the highest degree of equanimity the astonished looks of her family.
Thurston, who at first could scarcely give credence to what he heard, concluded she was playing the hypocrite in order to win sympathy for herself, and at the same time divert it from him, putting him in the character of a heartless husband.
"That little monkey's playing for something," thought Mrs. Bunker, "and she'll win her game, as sure as I'm her grandmother. Well, Indiana, it's settled, then, that you're not going to Paris with us."
"Grandma Chazy, I'm a married woman," answered Indiana, with an offended air, "I can't be running about like a young girl." Lady Canning nodded approvingly.
"I must get out of this," exclaimed Mrs. Bunker, desperately. "I feel choked for air. We're going to do some shopping. Indiana, do you want to come?"
"Well, considering Indiana was so ill, I think it advisable for her to remain quietly at home to-day," said Lady Canning. "But I should be very pleased to have you all dine with us this evening."
Indiana heard Lady Canning with a sensation of relief. She was suffering a tension of suspense. And she felt that to go out with her family and keep up this semblance of light-heartedness would have been an unendurable strain.
"There, what did I tell you?" remarked Mrs. Bunker to Thurston, when they were on the point of leaving. "Where are your plans now?" He made no answer, standing, determined and pale, by the mantel, and following Indiana's every move as she flitted from one to the other, kissing them good-bye. "Good morning, Lady Canning," said Mrs. Bunker. "I wish I had your complexion. Yes, I do."
"Come early," pleaded Indiana, clinging to her mother, "and we'll have a good, long talk before dinner, my dearest mother—and—and—after to-day we'll spend all our time together."