She put her bonnet away in its box, and suddenly there rose in her frail

old body a fierce and unexpected resentment against David. He had chosen

a course and abided by it. He had even now no doubt or falterings. Just

as in the first anxious days there had been no doubt in him as to the

essential rightness of what he was doing. And now--This was what came of

taking a life and moulding it in accordance with a predetermined plan.

That was for God to do, not man.

She sat down near her window and rocked slowly, to calm herself. Outside

the Sunday movement of the little suburban town went by: the older

Wheeler girl, Nina, who had recently married Leslie Ward, in her smart

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little car; Harrison Miller, the cynical bachelor who lived next door,

on his way to the station news stand for the New York papers; young

couples taking small babies for the air in a perambulator; younger

couples, their eyes on each other and on the future.

That, too, she reflected bitterly! Dick was in love. She had not watched

him for that very thing for so long without being fairly sure now. She

had caught, as simple David with his celibate heart could never have

caught, the tone in Dick's voice when he mentioned the Wheelers. She had

watched him for the past few months in church on Sunday mornings, and

she knew that as she watched him, so he looked at Elizabeth.

And David was so sure! So sure.

The office door closed and Mrs. Morgan went out, a knitted scarf

wrapping her ears against the wind, and following her exit came the slow

ascent of David as he climbed the stairs to wash for dinner.

She stopped rocking.

"David!" she called sharply.

He opened the door and came in, a bulky figure, still faintly aromatic

of drugs, cheerful and serene.

"D'you call me?" he inquired.

"Yes. Shut the door and come in. I want to talk to you." He closed the

door and went to the hearth-rug. There was a photograph of Dick on the

mantel, taken in his uniform, and he looked at it for a moment. Then he

turned. "All right, my dear. Let's have it."

"Did Mrs. Morgan have anything to say?" He stared at her.

"She usually has," he said. "I never knew you considered it worth

repeating. No. Nothing in particular."

The very fact that Mrs. Morgan had limited her inquiry to Minnie

confirmed her suspicions. But somehow, face to face with David, she

could not see his contentment turned to anxiety.




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