As for Mrs. Keap, she was inquiring of Jack with genuine solicitude:
"Do you really mean that you may be gone for some time?"
"I do. It may be a week; it may be longer; I can't tell until I get over there."
"I'm sorry." Mrs. Keap's face showed some disappointment.
"So am I."
"I shall have to look out for these young people all by myself."
"What a queer little way you have of talking, as if you were years and years old."
"I do feel as if I were. I—I—well, I have had an unhappy experience. You know unhappiness builds months into years."
"When Jean got up this house-party," young Chapin began, absently, "I thought I should be bored to death. But—I haven't been. You know, I don't want to go over there?" He nodded vaguely toward the south.
"I thought perhaps it suited your convenience." His companion watched him gravely. "Are you quite sure that your sister's guests have not—had something to do with this sudden determination?"