Seed on the Wind

There was no extension of privileges that night, and no further mention of it. Lewis left as usual, immediately after supper, to drive back to town — alone, since Albert had not come — and Lora spent the evening helping Roy with his arithmetic, until the children’s bedtime. Then she lit a blaze in her own room, in the fireplace which had been specially installed after Lewis had bought the house, arranged a chair and the reading-light, and settled down with a pile of magazines. This was the most luxurious hour of her day, with the children safely asleep, downstairs locked up for the night, and plenty of wood in the basket. She read a while, then sat and watched the fire. How pleasant it all was! There was going to be a little complication with Lewis apparently, but that was of no serious consequence. There was nothing at all objectionable or repugnant about him, and certainly his requirements would be moderate, you could trust him not to go to extremes. She was glad she had said what she did; she was perfectly willing — ha, there was an idea: did he mean to give Julian a brother or sister? But no, that couldn’t be what he was driving at; if that was what he wanted he would have said so in so many words. Nevertheless, it remained an idea, whether he had had it or not. She smiled at the fire, pondering whether it would be worthwhile to start that business all over again...

It was four days later, the following Thursday, that she saw Lewis’s coupé turn in at the driveway, and then, looking through the dining-room window, stood stupefied at the sight of Pete Halliday’s white bony face and tangled brown hair as he descended at one side of the car while Lewis got out at the other.

XVI

Two hours after Lewis Kane left in his coupé that afternoon, with Pete Halliday incredibly seated beside him, having been informed by Panther that her mother had gone to Anne Leaver’s to stay the night, Lora got ready to go down and help Lillian put the dinner on the table. She was more vexed with herself than she had ever been in her life. Funk was the word for it, she said to herself, plain unmitigated funk. What had done it was the preposterous combination of those two men; Pete, alone, however unexpected, would have been a manageable apparition. That explained it, but assuredly did not excuse it. In her shame and vexation she would have given anything for the chance to do it over again. She was reminded of an occasion many years before when she had ignored the prolonged ringing of a doorbell and let the telephone go unanswered; she had felt somewhat the same today as on that distant day, and that astonished her and added to her vexation. It was an insane idea, since the two situations were in no respect similar. However, she had then, as again today, been not only cowardly, but stupid. She could not forgive herself.

The opportunity of re-establishing her self-esteem came that very evening. At the dinner table she withdrew her instructions to Roy regarding the telephone; and the meal had not long been over — she was coming downstairs again after telling Julian and Morris goodnight — when it rang. It was Lewis, talking from New York, She would have liked to see his face while she was explaining to him that she had been at home all day and had been in the next room while Panther was delivering the message regarding Anne Seaver. She offered no apologies, and his only reply was that he wished to see her at once and would start for Maidstone immediately; she could expect him in an hour and a half. She asked him, would the other man be with him? Yes, he said, he would.

Well, Lora thought after she had hung up, he certainly is in a terrible hurry about something.

She was no longer in a funk, but was nevertheless too disturbed and restless to read or even to help Roy and Panther with their lessons. She sent them upstairs earlier than usual, so as to have them out of the way; when she explained that Lewis was returning with the strange man who had come that afternoon they accepted the premature banishment without a murmur. Their mother’s remarkable conduct in the afternoon and something in her manner now evidently impressed the gravity of the situation upon them; Panther’s goodnight kiss was unusually prolonged, and Roy before turning to go assured her solemnly:

“They won’t hurt you.”

“Hurt me!” Lora laughed. “It’s Lewis, you silly.”

“That other man looked funny,” said Panther.