CHAPTER V
AUDREY LOOKED like the afternoon. Her suit was greenish gray, the color of fall-faded vegetation. Her blouse and hat were brassy, like sunshine on yellow leaves—like her hair. Her hat swept up proudly from her face, framed it, insisted upon it. But she kept her head down, her face half averted, and she said impatiently, “Hop in!”
She drove away. When she reached one of the minor highways outside the town she slowed. “I was just going to bribe one of those guards to phone you. I waited quite a while. And I didn’t want to be caught.”
Jimmie laughed. “You won’t lose caste in this district. Not if you’re calling for me.
I assure you, I’ve been accepted by the very best upper sets—”
It’s not that. It’s my family. You knew they were giving you a big costume party tonight?”
“I knew it was a surpriser, but not a costumer.”
“Mother planned it for weeks. Of course, she had to keep open dates, because nobody knew till recently just when you would be here. You were late, as it was. I don’t know why everybody was so stupid, but we all thought you’d probably be on the other side. I mean—against war. You’ve never met Mother?”
He shook his head. “The Wilson immigration was after my time. I examined into that, to discover why I didn’t remember you. Even at seventeen—six years ago—you must have been definitely noticeable.”
“Mother has a pretty grim sense of humor. The party she planned was going to be a bomb party. With a lot of money-snatching side shows for the benefit of the America Forever Committee.”