“Oh, is Mr. Mills at the farm? What is it—a party?” she asked carelessly.
“Yes, Miss Mills, Miss Harden, Mrs. Torrence and Mrs. Freeman are there to ride—I didn’t make them all out.”
“It sounds quite gay,” she said languidly. “I’ve thought a lot about our talk yesterday. You evidently delivered Leila home without trouble. It was awfully sweet of you, I’m sure. I don’t believe we’ll go in to the farm, George. I think a crowd of people would bore me today, and we must get back to town.”
Whitford started his car, and as they moved away Constance leaned out and smiled and waved her hand. Bruce stood for a moment gazing after them, deep in thought. Constance Mills, he decided, was really a very clever woman.
II
After his visit to Deer Trail Farm Bruce found himself in a cynical humor with reference to his own life and the lives of the people with whom he had lately come in contact. Nothing was substantial or definite. He read prodigiously—poetry and philosophy, and the latest discussions of the problems of the time; caught in these an occasional gleam. It seemed centuries ago that he had walked in the Valley of the Shadow in France. The tragedy of war seemed as nothing weighed against the tragedy of his own life.
Why had she told him? was a question he despairingly asked himself. His mother had had no right to go out of the world leaving him to carry the burden her confession had laid upon him. Then again, with a quickening of his old affection for her, he felt that some motive, too fine and high for his understanding, had impelled her to the revelation....
He had settled himself to read one evening when Henderson, always unexpected in his manifestations of sociability, dropped in at his apartment.
“Maybelle’s at Shep Mills’s rehearsing in a new Dramatic Club show, so I romped up here hoping to catch you in. I guessed you’d be here laughing heartily all to yourself. I’ve cut the booze; honest I have. My bootlegger strolled in today, but I kissed him good-bye forever. So don’t offer me any licker; my noble resolution isn’t so strong that I mightn’t yield to a whisper from the devil.”
“You’re safe! There’s nothing stronger on the premises than a tooth wash warranted not to remove the enamel.”