"I shall send you a little note; I won't let you forget," she said. Then
she suddenly shook hands with the ladies of the house and was flashingly
gone.
Verrian thought he might ask the daughter of the house, "And if I don't
forget, am I engaged to spend Christmas week with her?"
The girl laughed. "If she doesn't forget, you are. But you'll have a
good time. She'll know how to manage that." Other guests kept coming up
to take leave, and Verrian, who did not want to go just yet, was retired
to the background, where the girl's voice, thrown over her shoulder at
him, reached him in the words, as gay as if they were the best of the
joke, "It's on the Sound."
The inference was that Mrs. Westangle's place was on the Sound; and that
was all Verrian knew about it till he got her little note. Mrs.
Westangle knew how to write in a formless hand, but she did not know how
to spell, and she had thought it best to have a secretary who could write
well and spell correctly. Though, as far as literacy was concerned, she
was such an almost incomparably ignorant woman, she had all the knowledge
the best society wants, or, if she found herself out of any, she went and
bought some; she was able to buy almost anything.
Verrian thanked the secretary for remembering him, in the belief that he
was directly thanking Mrs.
Pages:
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43