Mary Roberts Rinehart

“ What did Phillips mean, thrusting him on the other dinner guests without the formality of an introduction? Where was Phillips, anyhow?
“I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing my hostess yet,” he said, “strange as it may seem. I hope she is quite well?”
“Oh, very well, thank you,” said Mrs. Wilson with a smile.
The young man eyed her for a moment, but she seemed unconscious of his scrutiny, and went on placidly with her embroidery. Jane at the door announced dinner, and she rose. ”

“ Wilson’s chiffonier. I didn’t want to lend him the rain-coat, but he said: ‘Great Scott, Jane, the professor won’t mind. Why, he slept in my pajamas and wore my underclothes once for a week when he was visiting us and his trunk was lost!”
“Is that all?” said Ruth ominously.
“That’s all,” said Jane cheerfully. “He shaved in your room, Miss Ruth, because the light was better.”
“That settles it! We are not going to allow any strange man to live in our house, wear our clothes, and make himself generally obnoxious! ”

“ She had thought the man would follow her, forgetting that in her anger she had told him that she had never cared for him. He had had a very proper pride of his own, and now she was suffering the punishment of the impulsive and wilful. ”

“ Ruth looked long at the little inscription. Then, putting the various articles back in the pockets, she went with the coat to the kitchen.
“I’ve changed my plan, Jane,” she said hurriedly. “Take this coat up to him, and tell him that the professor particularly wants him to be home for dinner to-night. He is to meet a friend.”
IV.
The house looked very gay that night. ”

“ The young man’s manner was magnetic, and his smile friendly and winning. Jane’s ungraciousness vanished. She closed and locked the front door, and, cautioning him to step lightly, led the way to the immaculate guest-room. Then, after filling the water pitcher and bringing a fresh supply of towels, she departed complacently to her interrupted bread-making.
II.
The family slept late the next morning. ”

“ As weighed in the balance, a future containing Jane, with her abilities in the line of scrubbing brushes and well-seasoned viands, more than outweighed a summer at the seashore and a comfortless, Janeless winter thereafter. It is quite possible that the elderly couple in the cozy library would have decided accordingly had not fate, in the shape of a telephone bell, intervened. At the imperative ring the professor rose with a sigh.
“That’s Wilson, I suppose. I told him I would see if any of the neighbors wanted to rent their homes for the summer. Ruth isn’t well, and he and Mrs. ”