And then, and not until then, little Jane knew that Edith was not like one of the animals at the Zoo.
CHAPTER XIII
JANE POURS TEA
In Jane’s next letter to Judy she told her how the evening with the Townes had ended.
“Edith insisted that I should stay all night. She’s a perfect darling, so absolutely and utterly exquisite, and yet so human. She and her uncle simply can’t look at things from the same angle. And they are both to blame. Anything sets them off,—you should have seen them—like people in a play.
“I slept in the spare room—and well, I lay awake half the night looking at it, and admiring myself in one of Edith’s nighties! I never saw such underthings, Judy! For a princess! Her room is all rose and silver and ivory, and the room I slept in is in pale yellow—with a canopy to my bed of gold brocade.
“Edith and I had breakfast together. Everything brought up on a tray and set in her little sitting-room, and we wore lace caps and breakfast coats, and looked—superlative! Edith is the most beautiful person—like one of the Viking women—with her hair in thick fair braids. I told her that, and she laughed. ‘What a pair of poets you are,’ she said, ‘you and your brother.’
“It was good to hear her laugh. She cried dreadfully the night before. Coming back was hard for her—and then Mr. Towne got on her nerves. They both wanted me to stay, and Baldy stayed, too, and I know his head bumped the clouds. And this morning on his way to the office, he bought a bunch of heliotrope for Edith and sent it up to her.
“The trouble with Edith is that her life hasn’t been real, Judy. Not in the way that your life and mine and Baldy’s is real. She has never had any work to do, and nothing has ever depended upon her. Think of it. There’s no reason why she can’t stay in bed all day if she wants to. And she can gratify any mood of the moment. The consequence is that half the time she is bored stiff. She says that was the reason she became engaged to Delafield Simms. Anything for a change.
“It looks as if she and I were going to be frightfully friendly. She told me that she wants me for a friend. That Eloise Harper and her kind are horrible to her after the things that have happened.
“To-morrow afternoon she and her uncle are coming out here to tea, and I’m going to have the Follettes over. Mrs. Follette will love it. But Evans won’t. He doesn’t like Mr. Towne.
“And now, my dearest-dear, I am worried about that hint in your last letter that you are not well. Take care of yourself, and remember I have only one precious sister, and the kiddies have only one mother. We need you in our young lives, and you mustn’t work too hard.”
When she had written the last line, Jane sat very still at her desk. She was thinking of Evans. She hadn’t seen him for three days. Not since the Sunday night she had gone to the Townes. That night in the fog had impressed her strangely. She had felt for Evans something that had nothing to do with admiration for him nor respect nor charm. His weakness had drawn her to him, as a mother might be drawn to a child. His struggle was, she felt, something which she must share. Not as his wife! No.... That kind of love was different. If only he would let her be his little sister, Jane.
He had not even called her up. When she had invited him and his mother to tea with the Townes, Mrs. Follette had answered, and had accepted for both of them. Evans, she said, was in Washington, and would be out on the late train.
When he arrived ahead of the others on the afternoon of her tea, Jane said, “Where have you been? Do you know it has been four days since we’ve seen each other?”
“Weren’t you glad to get rid of me? I’ve thought of you every minute.” He dropped into a seat beside her.