Anne O'Hagan

“ It's amusing, isn't it, to contemplate private cars and things, when one wasn't always sure of a trolley-fare? "
Tom snapped his jaws together over the thought of private cars.
"Just now," she finished, "as you know, I'm down at their place—the Leverings'—at Agonquitt. And I've sneaked off to Fairport for a day with you, to tell you all about the approaching transformation of Miss Hilda Grub into Mrs. Walter Butterfly. Now tell me all about yourself. I can see you're as extravagant as ever, Tom. The idea of coming clear down here from Newburyport for just a day!" ”

“ There was Hilda, moderately successful in her profession of decorator, possessor of a fairly expensive set of tastes of her own, and of an invalid sister whose health, whose very life, depended upon immediate prosperity. And there was Walter Levering. Could anything be more futile than to oppose, against that array of facts, merely the demands of a jealous ache in the heart? ”

“ They invented romances for all the people they met; they wove histories for the peaceful old houses on the main street, keeping down, with resolute wills, the whisper that begged for utterance—"if only you and I might go into one, and close the door upon the world and grow old—old together, like those people in the garden there!" ”

“ Tom broke in impatiently, "isn't there a private automobile in the place? Isn't there a summer resident? I don't believe there's a spot on earth where you can't rake up a machine nowadays. And I've got to get back to Fair- port in record time. It's a matter of—almost of life. and death."
Ever since he had found Hilda's purse he had been consumed with one desire—to get back to her before she was obliged to confess to those Leverings that she had deceived them. That Hilda should have to apologize, should have to abase herself before those people, was a thought he could not endure. ”

“ Levering's comment, delivered later to her son over the breakfast table.
"She'll bear watching, Walter. Most people will—especially where a rich man is concerned."
Walter, pompous, sensitive, dull, a triumph—thanks to heritage and training—of suspicious egotism, flushed and turned angrily upon his mother.
"You always talk as if we had nothing to recommend us but that miserable money," he said. "I choose to think that Hilda is going to marry me out of l—liking." ”

“ Then they prowled in the little shops, and they bought bits of foolish pottery smuggled in across the bay from the British side. She pressed her purchases upon him.
"Put them in your pockets, please, you lucky thing with pockets! And carry my purse, too, and my gloves. I think I'll take them off. Isn't it fun to be in a place where you don't know a soul to be shocked at you? And keep the little trinkets as souvenirs of our day here together. ”

“ Is Mr. Levering at home? I should like to speak to him." A pause. The druggist thought her pallor increasing. "Hello, Walter! This is Hilda, Walter. I'm in Fairport—Fairport. Yes, I know, but I'll explain that later. I've lost my purse. The last train has gone down. You don't understand? I—have—lost—my—purse. Oh, that's what you don't understand? Well, I'll explain that later. Could I—can you send the motor-car for me? That's very good of you. Between an hour and an hour and a half? That's splendid. I'll wait here at the drug-store two blocks from the B. & M. station—Bryan's pharmacy. ”

“ He politely disclaimed any desire for a security, and placed the telephone at her disposal. His good breeding did not, however, extend to the point of withdrawal from the neighborhood of the desk upon which the instrument stood. ”