“Are you sorry?” Luke asked, curiously. He had been too busy in technical high school to be office boy for some time past.
“No; only you grow accustomed to things. You remember how mother felt about the old house.” Somehow the thing was harder to discuss with Luke as a questioner than with any one else.
“I guess they’ll miss you a lot.”
“Everyone’s place can be filled, we must never forget that. And I think the change is wise. The new firm seems agreeable.”
“Did Mr. O’Valley give you anything?”
Mary flushed. It had been Luke who received the armful of flowers sent anonymously.
“The firm gave me the wonderful desk set; you saw it before it was sent to be monogrammed.”
“Yes, but I mean Mr. O’Valley himself.” Luke was quite manly and threatening as he strode along. “Something for a keepsake because you’ve worked so hard for him.”
They paused at a corner to wait for the traffic to abate. Mary felt faint and queer, as if she had lost her good right hand and was trying to tell herself it wasn’t such a bad thing after all because she would only have to buy one glove from now on. Never to go into Steve’s office, never to talk with him, listen to 274 him, advise and influence him! She wanted to forget the sudden burst of affection, the protests of love, for she could not believe them true. What she wanted was to return to the old days of guarded control.
Beatrice’s cab whirled by just then and Mary caught a glimpse of the Gorgeous Girl in a gray cloak with a wonderful jewelled collar, and Steve beside her. As the cab passed and Mary and Luke struck out across the street Mary experienced a sense of defeat. As she talked to Luke of this and that to turn his mind from the too-fascinating question of who sent the flowers, she began to wonder if she, too, would not wish to be a Gorgeous Girl should the opportunity present itself? What would her brave platitudes count if she could wear bright gold tulle with slim shoulder straps of jet supporting it? Away with sport attire and untrimmed hats! To have absurdly frivolous little shoes of blue brocade; to wear the brown hair in puffs and curls and adorned with jade and pearls; to have a lace scarf thrown over her shoulders and a greatcoat of white fur covering the tulle frock; to go riding, riding, riding, at dusk through the crowded streets filled with envying shop-girls and clerks, hard-working men and women. To ride in an elegant little car with fresh flowers in a gold-banded vase, a tiny clock saying it was nearly half after six, outside a gray fog and a rain creeping up to make the crowds jostle wearily that they might reach shelter before the storm broke. To have Steve, handsome and adoring, beside her, laughing at her indulgently, excusing her frivolous little self, adoring the fragile, foolish soul of her. At least it would be worth while trying.