"You heard me, Eunice?" he said, caustically, his hand on the doork.n.o.b.
"Not being deaf, I did," she returned, without looking toward him.
"And you will obey me?" He turned back, and reaching her side, he grasped her arm with no uncertain touch. "I demand your obedience!"
"Demands are not always granted!"
She gave him a dazzling smile, but it was defiant rather than friendly.
"I make it a request, then. Will you grant me that?"
"Why should I grant your requests, when you won"t grant mine?"
"Good Lord, Eunice, are you going to harp on that allowance string again?"
"I am. Why shouldn"t I, when it warps my whole life--"
"Oh, come, cut out the hifalutin" talk!"
"Well, then, to come down to plain facts, there isn"t a day that I"m not humiliated and embarra.s.sed by the lack of a little cash."
"Bad as that?"
"Yes, quite as bad as that! Why, the day we went out to Newark I didn"t have five cents to buy Aunt Abby a newspaper, and she had to get along without one!"
"She seemed to live through it."
"Sanford, you"re unbearable! And to-day, at Mrs. Garland"s, a woman talked, and then they took up a collection for the "Belgian Home Fires," and I didn"t have a cent to contribute."
"Who is she? I"ll send a check."
"A check! You answer everything by a check! Can"t you understand?
Oh, there"s no use explaining; you"re determined you won"t understand!
So, let us drop the subject. Is to-night the club election?"
"No, to-morrow night. But to-night will probably decide it in my mind.
It practically hinges on the Meredith set--if they can be talked over--"
"Oh, Sanford, I do hope they can!" Eunice"s eyes sparkled and she smiled as she put her hands on her husband"s shoulders. "And, listen, dear, if they are--if you do win the election, won"t you--oh, San, won"t you give me an allowance?"
"Eunice, you"re enough to drive a man crazy! Will you let up on that everlasting whine? No, I won"t! Is that plain?"
"Then I shall go and get it for myself!"
"Go to the devil for all I care!"
Sanford flung out of the room, banging the door behind him. Eunice heard him speaking to Ferdinand, rather shortly, and as he left the apartment, she knew that he had gone to the club in their motor car, and if she went out, she would have to call a cab.
She began to take off her gown, half deciding to stay at home. She had never run counter to Embury"s expressed orders and she hesitated to do so now.
And yet--the question of money, so summarily dismissed by her husband, was a very real trouble to her. In her social position, she actually needed ready cash frequently, and she had determined to get it. Her last hope of Sanford failed her, when he refused to grant her wish as a sort of celebration of his election, and she persuaded herself that it was her right to get some money somehow.
Her proposed method was by no means a certain one, for it was the hazardous plan of winning at bridge.
Although a first-rate player, Eunice often had streaks of bad luck, and, too, inexpert partners were a dangerous factor. But, though she sometimes said that winnings and losings came out about even in the long run, she had found by keeping careful account, her skill made it probable for her to win more than she lost, and this reasoning prompted her to risk high stakes in hope of winning something worth-while.
Fifi Desternay was a recent acquaintance of hers, and not a member of the set Eunice looked upon as her own. But the gatherings at the Desternay house were gay and pleasant, a bit Bohemian, yet exclusive too, and Eunice had already spent several enjoyable afternoons there.
She had never been in the evening, for Embury wouldn"t go, and had refused to let her go without him. Nor did she want to, for it was not Eunice"s way to go out alone at night.
But she was desperate and, moreover, she was exceedingly angry. Sanford was unjust and unkind. Also, he had been cross and ugly, and had left her in anger, a thing that had never happened before.
And she wanted some money at once. A sale of laces was to be held next day at a friend"s home, and she wanted to go there, properly prepared to purchase some bits if she chose to.
Her cheeks flushed as she remembered Mason Elliott"s offer to give or lend her money, but she smiled gently, as she remembered the true friendliness of the man, and his high-mindedness, which took all sting from his offer.
As she brooded, her anger became more fierce, and finally, with a toss of her head, she rose from the chair, rang for the maid, and proceeded to finish her toilette.
"Lend me some money, will you, Aunt Abby?" she asked, as, all ready to go, she stepped into the livingroom.
She had no hesitancy in making this appeal. If she won, she would repay on her return. If she lost, Aunt Abby was a good-natured waiter, and she knew Eunice would pay later.
"Bridge?" said the old lady, smiling at the lovely picture Eunice made, in her low gown and her billowy satin wrap. "I thought Sanford took the car."
"He did. I"m going in a taxi. What a duck you are to let me have this," as she spoke she stuffed the bills in her soft gold mesh-bag.
"Don"t sir up, dear, I"ll be out till all hours."
"Where are you going?"
"To the end of the rainbow--where there"s a pot of gold! You read your spook books, and then go to bed and dream of ghosts and specters!"
Eunice kissed her lightly, and gathering up her floating draperies, went out of the room with the faithful and efficient Ferdinand.
On his way to the club, Embury pursued that pleasing occupation known as nursing his wrath. He was sorry he had left Eunice in anger--he realized it was the first time that had ever happened--and he was tempted to go back, or, at least to telephone back, that he was sorry.
But that would do little good, he knew, unless he also said he was willing to accede to her request for an allowance, and that he was as sternly set against as ever.
He couldn"t quite have told himself why he was so positive in this matter, but it was largely owing to an instinctive sense of the fitness of having a wife dependent on her husband for all things. Moreover, it seemed to him that unlimited charge accounts betokened a greater generosity than an allowance, and he felt an aggrieved irritation at Eunice"s seeming ingrat.i.tude.
The matter of her wanting "chicken-feed" now and then seemed to him too petty to be worthy of serious consideration. He really believed that he gave her money whenever she asked for it, and was all unaware how hard he made it for her to ask.
The more he thought about it, the more he saw Eunice in the wrong, and himself an injured, unappreciated benefactor.
He adored his wife, but this peculiarity of hers must be put an end to somehow. Her temper, too, was becoming worse instead of better; her outbreaks were more frequent, more furious, and he had less power to quell them than formerly.
Clearly, he concluded, Eunice must be taught a lesson, and this occasion must be made a test case. He had left her angrily, and it might turn out that it was the best thing he could have done. Poor girl, she doubtless was sorry enough by now; crying, probably. His heart softened as he conjured up the picture of his wife alone, and in tears, but he reasoned that it would do her good, and he would give her a new jewel to make up for it, after the trouble was all over.