“It’s not the world’s praise we want,” said Pendleton; “it’s the praise of the men who know.”
This was not tactful; it apparently brushed aside his host’s approval as negligible. Miss Wilkinson flashed Pendleton one of her brilliant smiles, remarking:
“You are altogether too modest, Mr. Pendleton. Every one says that your ‘Brickyards of Nebuchadnezzar’ is the last word on that subject.”
And then a chill seized Mrs. Burgess. The yellow-haired, blue-eyed unknown moved her head slightly to one side, bit an almond in two with neatness, and said:
“If I were you, Mr. Pendleton, I shouldn’t let a faker like Geisendanner annoy me.”
Susie regarded the remaining half of the almond indifferently and then ate it musingly. At the mention of Geisendanner Pendleton flushed, and his head lifted as though he heard trumpets calling to action. Then he bent toward Susie. The salad had just been removed. Mrs. Burgess beat the table with her fingers and awaited the earthquake. Her only relief at the moment was in the consciousness that her husband, from the look of his face, at last realized the heinousness of his conduct in bringing just any little whipper-snapper to her table. And Susie seemed to be the only member of the company who was wholly tranquil. Mrs. Burgess wondered whether she could be more than twenty, so complete had been the reinvestiture of the girl in the robes of her Susiness. She had spoken of Geisendanner as though he lived round the corner and were a person that every one with any sort of decent bringing up knew or should know. The effect of the name upon Pendleton was not pleasant to see, and Mrs. Burgess shuddered. After the first shock of surprise he seemed wonderfully subdued. Clearly this Geisendanner was an enemy or a man he feared. The eminent Babylonian met Susie’s eyes apprehensively. He said in a low tone of dejection:
“So you know then?” As though of course she did, and that a dark understanding had thus been established by their common knowledge.
Susie nodded.
“Rather absurd, on the whole, when you consider——”
Her plate was being changed and she drew back during the interruption. Pendleton shook his head impatiently at the delay.