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My mother is an old Southern lady the Ralstons, you know? and her linen is, of course, like nothing one can get nowadays! No; I wouldn't care to show my mother this.
The weeks had begun to slip by with incredible swiftness. The tragedy of Ermsted's death had ceased to be the talk of the station. Tessa had gone back to her mother who still remained a semi-invalid in the Ralstons' hospitable care.
The Ralstons' bungalow was considerably lower down the hill. It stood upon more open ground than most, and overlooked the race-course some distance below. It was an ugly little place, and the small compound surrounding it was a veritable wilderness. It had been named "The Grand Stand" owing to its position, but no one less racy than its present occupant could well have been found. Mrs.
She endured it dumbly, holding herself more and more aloof in consequence of it as the days went by. Ever since the days of her own ostracism she had placed a very light price upon social popularity. The love of such women as Mary Ralston and the love of little Tessa were of infinitely greater value in her eyes. Tessa and her mother were once more guests in the Ralstons' bungalow.
She received many invitations to tea, and smiled over her sudden popularity. But it dawned upon her when, she had been about three weeks in the station no one but the Ralstons seemed to think of asking her and her husband to dine. She thought but little of the omission at first.
The words were brief, but they thrilled her strangely. Her eyes fluttered and refused to meet his look. "The Ralstons are taking us," she said. Her tone was cold, her bearing aloof. She was striving for self-control. He could not have known of the tumult within her. Yet he smiled. "They are taking Tommy," he said.
He turned deliberately back again to Stella. "Will you come with me? Or will you go with Tommy and the Ralstons?" There was neither anxiety nor persuasion in his voice. Tommy frowned over its utter lack of emotion. He did not think his friend was playing his cards well. But to Stella that coolness had a different meaning. It stirred her to an impulse more headlong than at the moment she realized.
Tommy stood yet a moment longer as if, had it been possible, he would have broken through the barrier between them even then. But Everard did not so much as glance in his direction, and the moment passed. In utter silence he turned and went out as he had entered. There was nothing more to be said. Tessa went back to the Ralstons' bungalow that night borne in Bernard's arms.
They've been a month at it, and I'm always kind of relieved when Christmas is over and there are no more mysterious doings. We're in such cramped quarters here that you can't move without stepping on somebody's secret." A shakedown was spread in the kitchen for the unexpected guests, and presently the Ralstons found themselves alone. Mrs.
Then the Ralstons had altered their plans, unless Something suddenly leapt up within her. She was conscious of a curious constriction at the throat, a sense of suffocation. The fuss and worry of the engine died down into silence, and in a moment there came the sound of a man's feet entering the compound. Standing motionless, with hands clenched against her sides, she gazed forth.
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