But there was a change in his
feeling for her, an indefinable but potent boundary had been crossed:
they had looked together, informally, at life, at passion, and the
resulting sympathy had, finally, put aside the merely casual. Lee
lighted a cigarette, and, without speech, she took it from him,
transferred it to her own lips.
Eastlake and Fanny, Helena and Gregory, seemed very remote; a quality
of his being suppressed at home here possessed him completely: in a
black silk evening waistcoat, with no responsibilities, no thought of
time or work, he was, lightly and wholly, an idler in a polite sphere.
The orchids in their glass holder, dimly visible before him, were a
symbol of his purely decorative engagement with life. Now Lee couldn't
reconcile himself to the knowledge that this was no more than an
interlude--with music--in his other, married existence. It was as
unsubstantial as an evening's performance, in temporary finery, of a
high comedy of manners.
Savina Grove said, "It has been surprisingly nice."
"Hasn't it," he agreed; "and, when you spoke, I was trying to realize
that it will be so soon over."
Immediately after he cursed himself for a blunder, a stupid error in
emphasis, from which she drew perceptibly away. She extinguished the
cigarette, his cigarette, and that, as well, added to the distance
between them.
"I should go back to Eastlake tomorrow afternoon," he observed, in a
manner which he made entirely detached.
Pages:
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166