“Your mother,” the old man continued, and she started, for he had rarely mentioned her mother; “your mother was a very gentle woman. She had none of your uncle’s violence—Rodney is very violent—and she was not a worldly woman like your Aunt Julia. She had her fling. She had enjoyed a gay youth, but with marriage she settled down. She was an admirable woman—an admirable woman.” He grew pensive as he stirred his coffee. He started slightly when he looked up and found Zelda’s eyes bent gravely upon him. She said nothing, and he went on.
“You are very like your mother. You have her looks—and she was very beautiful; but she had not quite—your spirit. No; she was a more subdued type. I could always understand your mother; but I am not always sure that I understand you, Zee. But you are very kind. I am very proud to have you here with me.”
She rose and walked into the living-room. He always waited for her to pass, bowing his stooped figure slightly; and to-night he smiled at her; but she passed swiftly and did not look at him. There were times when it was impossible for her to speak to him.
Her father had spoken often during the winter of the farm. Zelda’s willingness to go there was a great relief to him; and when she suggested that she should like to ask Olive to spend the whole of her vacation with them he made no objection. He knew that she saw Olive frequently; Zee had asked her cousin to the house for meals several times since the Dramatic Club episode, and her father had treated Olive with his usual formal courtesy. The main thing with Ezra Dameron was to keep Zelda away from her aunt and uncle; and it flattered his vanity that she remained with him so steadfastly and took apparently so filial an interest in his happiness and comfort.
Zelda went to Olive at once with her invitation.
“I’d be delighted, of course, Zee; but you mustn’t make it hard for me to refuse. This is my busy summer; we have to move!”
“Oh!” said Zelda.
“We’re mortgaged; that’s the trouble with us; we’re not only mortgaged, but we can’t pay! So we hope to find another house somewhere and get out of the way.”
It was the first reference Olive had made to any financial difficulty, and she tried to pass it off lightly.
“I suppose,” said Zelda, who was thinking very hard, “that one simply has to have a mortgage; just as though it were measles or croup or scarlet fever.”