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And so it happened that among the jolly youthful throng which clustered around the little candle-lighted tables in the dining-room at Silverside, Drina, in ecstasy, curly hair just above the nape of her slim white neck, and cheeks like pink fire, sat between Boots and a vacant chair reserved for her tardy father.
Luncheon at Silverside was anything but a function with the children at table and the dogs in a semicircle, and the nurses tying bibs and admonishing the restless or belligerent, and the wide French windows open, and the sea wind lifting the curtains and stirring the cluster of wild flowers in the centre of the table.
The Commissioners, having first amused themselves by a little rough joking at the prisoner's expense, inquired which of her husbands was the last. "My present name is Silverside," she replied. "And what was he, this Silverside? a tanner or a chimney-sweep?" "Sir, he was a priest." The Commissioners who knew it all beforehand professed themselves exceedingly shocked.
A brief note to Nina thanking her for having had him at Silverside, and speaking vaguely of some business matters which might detain him indefinitely a briefer note to Eileen regretting his inability to return for the present were all the communication they had from him except news brought by Austin, who came down from town every Friday.
The elders conducted such social intercourse as was possible under the conditions, but luncheon was the children's hour at Silverside. Nina and Eileen talked garden talk they both were quite mad about their fruit-trees and flower-beds; Selwyn, Gerald, and Boots discussed stables, golf links, and finally the new business which Selwyn hoped to develop.
Mrs Silverside bade her welcome with a kindly smile, and Robert Purcas came up and kissed her people kissed each other then instead of shaking hands as we do now, and Elizabeth felt their sympathy a true comfort. But she was calm under her suffering until she caught sight of Cissy. Then an exclamation of pain broke from her. "O Cissy, Cissy; I am so sorry for thee!" "O Bessy, but I'm so glad!
There was plenty of martyr material in the King's Head kitchen that night from old Agnes Silverside to little Cissy Johnson; from the learned priest, Mr Pulleyne, to many poor men and women who did not know their letters. They were not afraid of what people would say, nor even of what people might do.
And he sat there until he had bitten clean through the amber mouthpiece, so that the brier bowl fell clattering to the floor. By that time it was full daylight; but Gerald was still asleep. He slept late into the afternoon; but that evening, when Selwyn and Lansing came in to persuade him to go with them to Silverside, Gerald was gone. They waited another day for him; he did not appear.
The boy passed his hand across his eyes as though confused by the light; then he turned and walked back toward the bed, still rubbing his eyes, and sat down on the edge. Selwyn closed the door and seated himself, apparently not noticing Gerald's dishevelment. "Thought I'd drop in for a good-night pipe," he said quietly. "By the way, Gerald, I'm going down to Silverside next week.
"How cheerfully would I breathe half a dozen sandwiches and a silverside of beef, just to give me an appetite!" And Tartlet plunged into a semi-sensuous reverie, in which he beheld succulent atmospheric dinners, and at them unconsciously opened his mouth and breathed his lungs full, oblivious that he had scarcely the wherewithal to feed upon in the ordinary way.
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