"Just a moment, Day," I said calmly. "Have you had your lesson?"
"Just what do you mean?"
He followed my eyes to the table and the license plates were there. He actually paled.
"Where did you get them?"
"Under the seat of the car Ferd and I stole last night at Devil"s Island--my car, which you said was being overhauled!"
He drew a long breath. Then he got down on his knees and put his head in my lap.
"I"ve had my lesson--honest, honey!" he said. "Some darned fool suggested a picnic on one of those islands--mixed couples--and I was a.s.s enough to agree. I took Ida Jackson. We didn"t have any picnic--the champagne was stolen----"
"Ferd and I----" I put in.
"And then my car went----"
"My car--and I took it."
"And we spent all the evening and part of the night chasing the thing for fear you"d hear of it!" He looked up at me and there were dark circles round his eyes. "I haven"t been to bed at all, honey," he said humbly. "It"s been a rotten night! I"ve had enough affinity for the rest of my life. There"s n.o.body like you!"
I would not kiss him just then, but I let him lie down on my couch and hold my hand until he dropped asleep. Somehow the words of Ferd"s silly card kept running through my head:
_Another woman now and then Is relished by the best of men._
My little affair with Ferd had seemed harmless enough and the picnic had been a lark; but Day and Ida had had a picnic and it had been a lark--only the shoe was on the other foot, and it hurt!
And somehow, as I sat there, it seemed to me that the affinity business was only fun because it was dangerous. We were all children, and life was a Fourth of July, enchanting because it was risky.
Day was sleeping, with his mouth shut! I leaned over and kissed him as he dozed.
Sitting there, with Day asleep, I went over the events of the night, and I knew that Ferd had had his lesson, too, and that, having been burnt, he would not play with fire again--at least not until the blister had healed; for Ferd had seen the island picnickers and had learned that they were not puddlers. He had seen Ida and Day and, worst of all, he had known that it was Day who was pursuing us.
I thought of that hour in the haymow, with Day and the others below, and Ferd dripping; and very quietly, so as not to waken my husband, I went into a paroxysm of mirth.
THE FAMILY FRIEND
I
I"ve thought the thing over and over, and honestly I don"t know where it went wrong. It began so well. I planned it out, and it went exactly as I"d expected up to a certain point. Then it blew up.
There"s no argument about it, a girl has to look out for herself. The minute the family begin mixing in there"s trouble.
The day after I came out mother and I had a real heart-to-heart talk.
I"d been away for years at school, and in the summers we hadn"t seen much of each other. She played golf all day and I had my tennis and my horse. And in the evenings there were always kid dances. So we really got acquainted that day.
She rustled into my room and gazed at what was left of my ball gown, spread out on the bed.
"It really went rather well last night," she said.
"Yes, mother," I replied.
"I"ve sent the best of the flowers to the hospital."
"Yes, mother."
"You had more flowers than Bessie Willing."
I shrugged my shoulders, and for some reason or other that irritated her.
"For heaven"s sake, Kit," she said sharply, "I wish you"d show a little appreciation. Your father has spent a fortune on you, one way and another. The supper alone last night----But that"s not what I came to talk about."
"No, mother?"
"No. Are you going to continue to waste your time on Henry Baring?"
"I rather enjoy playing round with him. That"s all it amounts to."
"Not at all," said mother in her best manner. "It keeps the others away."
"As, for instance?" I asked politely.
She was getting on my nerves. I didn"t mean to marry Henry, but I did mean to carry on my own campaign.
"You know very well that there are only three marriageable men in town.
There are eleven debutantes. And--I don"t care to be unkind, but at least four of them are--are----"
"I know," I said wearily--"better looking than I am. Go ahead."
"You"re not at all ugly," mother put in hastily. "A great many people said nice things about you last night. The only thing I want to impress on you is that Madge will have to come out next year, and that you"ve been reared with expensive tastes."
"I"ve got brains. Most of the other eleven haven"t."
"Brains are a liability, not an a.s.set."
"That"s an exploded idea, mother. The only times they are a liability is when they are ruined by too much family interest."
"That sounds impertinent," she said coldly.
"Not at all; it"s good business. If I"m to put over anything worth while, I shall have to work along my own lines. I can"t afford to have my style cramped."
She raised her eyebrows at that, for she hates slang. But she looked relieved too. When I think of how sure of myself I was that day I could rave!
"Then you"re not going to waste any more time on Henry?"