|
Book 2Six
Crazy little Fairy Blair came home for Thanksgiving. On the very day she arrived she ran after Lucy on the street, in a grass-green cap and sweater.
"Hello, Lucy, wait a minute!" she called. Catching up with Lucy, she took her arm. "I`ll walk along with you. I have a trade-last for you. One of my fraternity sisters has a brother studying with Professor Auerbach, Sidney Gilchrist, do you know him? He says Auerbach is crazy about you, and tells everyone you`re his star pupil. Doesn`t that please you? Oh, you`re so haughty, always! And oh, Lucy! That Mr. Saint Sebastian who was drowned in Italy, wasn`t he the singer you played for?"
Lucy had not heard that name spoken since she left Chicago. "Yes, he was." She could feel Fairy`s sharp, mischievous little eyes.
"Terrible thing, wasn`t it? Died trying to save a lame man, the paper said. Weren`t you dreadfully upset? It must have been thrilling to play for him. Sidney said it put you in the upper circle all right!"
Fairy had heard that no one in town knew what was the matter with Lucy, and she thought she had a clew. That same afternoon she telephoned Pauline and asked her to come in for tea. (They called it tea, but it was always coffee and cake.) Fairy made haste to tell Pauline about the accident on Lake Como, and what Sidney Gilchrist had written his sister; that Lucy was desperately in love with Sebastian, and Professor Auerbach had been afraid she would go out of her mind.
Pauline went home very much relieved. Her sister had been here nearly three months, and this was the first hint she had got as to what had really happened. At least, it wasn`t so bad as some people thought; the man hadn`t jilted her. Pauline believed that to be jilted was almost the worst thing that could befall a respectable girl. Now she knew what to think of that moaning she sometimes heard at night; a shock like that would probably give one bad dreams.
She felt sorry for Lucy,--and a little in awe of her, for the first time in her life. Women like Pauline have a secret respect for romantic chapters. Lucy had been dignified, she reflected; she hadn`t run about telling her troubles. She should, of course, have confided in her sister. She behaved strangely. Yet she, Pauline, would behave just so under similar circumstances; she was sure of it. Lucy was certainly a Gayheart.
When Pauline entered the house she greeted her sister in her usual cheery tone, but she was conscious of a certain awkwardness. Lucy was setting the table for supper, so Pauline came into the dining- room and sat down for a moment.
"Are you going to do anything special this evening?" she asked.
"I thought I might go down to play for Mrs. Ramsay. It`s Saturday night, so Father will go back to the shop after supper."
"Lucy," Pauline began in a deeply confidential tone, "I don`t know what we ought to do about Mrs. Harry Gordon."
"Do about her? Why, what do you mean?"
"She`s never returned my call. I can`t think why. Maybe she is waiting for you to call, before she returns mine. She coming here a bride, and we being old residents, perhaps she expects us all to come."
"Father too?"
"Now don`t be contrary, Lucy! We who live here have to consider such things."
"Yes, yes, I know. But I shan`t go to see her until she has been to see you. Let`s let it rest at that."
|
