|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 13
"To relieve the tension?" her victim suggested. "That's an excellent
idea--real compensation. But as the blood will be all at the top, anyway,
after two hours' effort at being agreeable, saying the same idiotic
things over and over, and grinning steadily all the time, I think I'd
prefer soaking my head under a pump."
"Do what pleases you, if you'll only let me have my way."
Burns looked at Ellen again. "What do you say, dear? Must these things
be? Do you want to be 'received'?"
"Martha has set her heart on it," said she, gently, "and it's very dear
of her to want to take the trouble. She promises really to make it very
informal."
"Informal! I wish I knew what that word meant. Don't I have to wear my
spike-tail?"
"I'm afraid you do--since Martha wants it in the evening. The men in a
place like this are not available for afternoon affairs."
"If I must dress, then I don't see what there is informal about it,"
argued her husband, with another glance at his watch. "My idea of
informality is not a white necktie and pumps. But I suppose I'll have
to submit."
He came around the table, and Ellen rose to receive his parting kiss.
With his arm about her shoulder, and his chin--that particularly resolute
chin--touching her hair, he looked at Martha. "Go on with your abominable
society stunt," said he. "I'll agree to be there--if I can."
His eyes sparkled with mischief, as Martha jumped up, crying anxiously:
"Oh, that's just it, Red! You _must_ be there! We can't have any excuses
of operations or desperately sick patients. We never yet had you at so
much as a family dinner that you didn't get up and go away, or else
weren't even there at all. Even your wedding had to be postponed three
hours. That won't do at this kind of an affair. Ellen can't be a bridal
pair, all by herself!"
"Can't she?" His arm tightened about his wife's shoulders. "Well, I'll
tell you what I'll do. If I have to leave suddenly I'll take her with me.
That'll make it all right and comfortable. If you and Jim will retire
too, the company can have a glorious time talking us over."
He stooped, whispered something in Ellen's ear, laughing as he did so,
then kissed her, nodded at Martha, and departed. From the other side of
the closed door came back to them a gay, whistled strain from a popular
Irish song.
"He's just as hopeless as ever," Martha complained. "I thought you would
have begun to have some effect on him, by this time. The trouble is, he's
been a bachelor so long and has got into such careless notions of having
his own way about everything, you're going to have a bad time getting him
just to behave like an ordinary human being."
"What an outlook!" Ellen laughed, coming over to her sister, and stopping
on the way to help little Bob insert a refractory napkin in its silver
ring. "Perhaps I'd better not waste much time trying to make him over. He
really suits me pretty well, as he is,--and it doesn't strike me he's so
different from the average man, when it comes to receptions. Is Jim
enthusiastic over this one?"
"Oh, Jim isn't making any fuss about it," evaded Martha. "He'll be good
and amiable, when the time comes. Of course, any man likes better just
having a group of men smoking round the fire, or sitting down to a stag
dinner, but Jim understands the necessity of doing some things just
because they're expected. I really think that having a perfectly informal
affair of this sort is letting them off easily. They might have had to
stand a series of 'At Homes.'"
"Not in this little place. Everybody would have come to the first one,
and there would have been nobody left for the rest. As it is, you will
have a houseful, won't you? It's lovely of you to do it, Martha dear, and
Red and I will be good, and stand in line as long as you want us."
"And you won't let him get away?"
"He won't try,--though if an urgent call comes, it's not I who can keep
him. But don't worry about that. It doesn't always happen, I suppose."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|