Grove contributed little. She practically avoided speaking
to Lee Randon; and he was certain that she was, cheaply and
inexcusably, offended at him. Then, in moving, her gaze caught his,
their eyes held fixed; and, as he looked, the expression he had seen on
her face that afternoon in the library, drawn and white with staring
black eyes, came upon her. It amazed him so much that he, too, sat
regarding her in an intentness which took no account of the others. One
of Mrs. Grove's hands, half hidden in green tulle, was clenched. She
breathed in an audible sigh and, with what appeared to be a wrenching
effort, turned from him to the general conversation.
Lee Randon, losing his first impression of her attitude, was totally
unable to comprehend the more difficult state that had its place. A
possible explanation he dismissed before it had crystallized into
thought. At the same time, the restlessness which had left him for the
past twenty-four hours returned, more insistent than ever. He felt that
it would be impossible to remain seated, calmly talking, for another
minute. The conversation of the Davencotts that had so engaged him now
only sounded like a senseless clatter of words and unendurable
laughter. He wished they would go; that all of them except Savina Grove
would vanish; but why he wanted her to stay, why he wished to be alone
with her, and what, in such a circumstance, he would say, were all
mysteries.
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