She introduced Jim and the Marquess, saying, "You great warriors
should know each other."
Jim felt sheepish because he had been to no war and Strathdene
felt sheepish because Jim was so much taller than he. He looked up
at him as Napoleon looked enviously up at men who had no glory but
their altitude. Strathdene was also sheepish because Jim said, very
simply:
"Do you know my wife?"
If he had not been so tall that he saw only the top of Kedzie's
coiffure he would have seen that her face was splashed with red.
She mumbled something while Strathdene stammered, "Er--yes--I have
had that privilege." He felt a sinking sensation as deadly as when
he had his first fall at the aviation school.
Kedzie dragged Jim away and paid violent attention to him all
through dinner. Her sympathy was entirely for her poor Strathdene.
She was afraid he would commit suicide or return to England without
her, and she could not imagine how to get rid of Jim. Then she
caught sight of Charity Coe, and greeted her with a smile of
sincere delight.
For once Kedzie loved Charity. Suddenly it came upon her what a
beautiful solution it would be for everybody if Jim could take
Charity and leave Kedzie free to take Strathdene. She told herself
that Jim would be ever so much happier so, for the poor fellow
would suffer terribly when he found that his Kedzie really could
not pretend to love him any longer. Kedzie felt quite tearful over
it. She was an awfully good-hearted little thing.
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