Leaving the dancing floor, she was careless, in the
manner everywhere evident, in the disposition of her skirt. Lee had
come prepared for the pleasure to be had from on-looking; but he had
become the most oblivious of all the active participants. After a
second brief understanding with the captain, another quickly-disposed
currency note, there was the familiar smothered uncorking of champagne
by his ear. To Lee Randon's lavishness Mrs. Grove gave no attention,
and he was obliged to banish a petty chagrin by the knowledge that he
had fully met the obligations of her presence. The propping of her
elbows on the table, her casual gazing over the lifted rim of her
glass, her silences, all admitted him to her own unremarked, her
exclusive and inalienable, privilege.
* * * * *
She still, however, retained her personal remoteness from him; what she
gave belonged to him, in their situation, conventionally; it had no
greater significance; and, forming nearly all of the duty of life, her
life, she discharged her responsibility beautifully. She wasn't,
certainly, gay in the sense most familiar to him--Anette, in the same
circumstances, would have radiated a bubbling sensual pleasure,
indulged in a surface impropriety; any girl around them would have
given more than Mrs. Grove; everything, probably. But he preferred the
penetrating judgments, the superior mental freedom, of his companion.
Pages:
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164