She spoke out of her thoughts. "Randy has sold his story."
He wanted to know all about it, and she repeated what Madge had said. Yet even as she talked that hateful rhyme persisted,
"When the girls
Came out to play,
Georgie-Porgie
Ran away——"
After dinner they went into the drawing-room so that Louise could play for them. A great mirror which hung at the end of the room reflected Louise on the piano bench in her baby frock. It reflected Madge, slim and gold, with a huge fan of lilac feathers. It reflected Becky—in a rose-colored damask chair, it reflected the three men in black. Years ago there had been other men and women—the Admiral's wife in red velvet and the same pearls that were now on Becky's neck—— She shuddered.
As they drove home that night, the Major spoke to his wife of Becky. "The child looks unhappy."
"She will be unhappy until some day her heart
rests in her husband, as mine does in you. Shall I spoil you, Mark, if I talk like this?"