It was easier to remain in
the dancing class than to be sent out in an agony of revolt and
strangling shame.
* * * * *
Often, during his conversations with Fanny, she returned to the subject
of his late New York trip and stay with the Groves. She asked small
interested questions, commented on the lavish running of the Grove
house; she couldn't, she explained, get nectarines and Belgian grapes
in Eastlake; but when she was in the city again she'd bring some out.
"Mina Raff's limousine sounds luxurious," she acknowledged. But Fanny
wasn't curious about Mina; after the first queries she accepted her
placidly; now that she had withdrawn from the Morrises' lives, Fanny
regarded her in the light of a past episode that cast them all together
on a romantic screen. What mostly she asked touched upon Savina Grove.
"Did they seem happy?" she inquired about the Groves. He replied:
"Very. William Grove was quite affectionate when he left for
Washington."
A momentary and ominous suspense followed a sudden stopping of his
voice.
"You didn't say anything about that before," she observed carefully.
"When did he go, how long was he away?" She put aside what she was
doing, waiting.
"He left unexpectedly; just when I forget; but during the last day I
was there."
"Lee, why didn't you say that Mr. Grove had gone to Washington? It
seems very peculiar.
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