"Of course. There's only one definition. It's something that isn't there when you're trying to analyze it. And every one of us would," said Dodo. "Give me an orange, Sara darling, and tell us about the new pictures."
It was their last evening together in the little house. Precious as each moment of it was to Helen, with the coming change in her own life hanging over it, she had no more premonition than the others of the events that would so soon whirl them apart.
CHAPTER XXII
Marian rushed in upon them at luncheon next day, glowing with excitement, to announce that she would leave that night for New York on her way to France.
"I'm going as a correspondent, of course. I never dreamed that I could pull it off. But the United Press has come through with credentials. Girls, when I get over there, stories or no stories, I'm going to do something to help. I'm going to find a place where I'll be useful."
"Wait till to-morrow," said Dodo, quietly. "I'll go with you as far as Washington." Smiling at their stunned faces, she explained, still unruffled: "I've been thinking about it for some time. My assistants can keep things going here till I can arrange to put in some one else. I don't know whether this country's going into the war or not, but if it does, I want to be in the heart of things. I'd be no good in France, but I can do something in our own Department of Labor."
Two days later they were gone. Helen's own wistfulness was echoed in Willetta's mournful exclamation: "Lucky dogs! What wouldn't I give! But there's no use. The East is no place to bring up children, even if I could afford to take a chance, with the infant to think about. Oh, well, you girls'll come back twenty years from now to find me in the same old grind."
"Never mind, Willie dear. I'll be right here the rest of my life, too," said Helen, and for a moment Paul's name was on her lips. She felt that speaking of him would be a defense against her own illogical depression, and these girls would understand. It would not even occur to them that legally she was still another man's wife. But Willetta's "Oh, you! You're going to leave all the rest of us a million miles behind!" silenced her.
"None of us have developed the way you have in this one year," said Willetta. "If you knew what I hear everywhere about your work!" Though she knew in her heart that she would never be a great writer, praise for her work always gave Helen a throb of deep delight.
Two weeks later she sat in Mr. Hayden's office listening to a suggestion that left her breathless.