Meredith Nicholson

“ It is brave and fine of you.” Her eyes filled with tears and Alice flung her arms around her and kissed her passionately. “I've been so wicked; so horribly wicked,” Grace moaned.
“I think you have!” said Alice, drawing away from her and laughing. “You came in here like some furious queen, so fierce that I merely crumpled up and fell down before your wrath. It's a perfect scream that you thought I was trying to vamp Phil; and I can see how you got the whole business twisted.”
Phil came quickly into the room.
“Well,” he exclaimed, “the whole world seems to have been upside down the past week. ”

“ GRACE CARSON was not by nature adventurous. If it hadn't been for that silly talk at Sue Layton's luncheon about the prevalence of the wandering eye among twentieth century husbands she would never have thought of doing anything foolhardy.
If a husband, following the devices and desires of his own wicked heart, flirted and cut up generally, there was no sound reason why a wife shouldn't enjoy a like privilege. ”

“ I don't know what I should have done without dear old Phil. We wanted to save you, Grace; we didn't want you to have the hurt of it. You understand, don't you, dear?”
“Yes,” Grace answered feebly, her eyes averted.
“There's no need of going into details. When I took father to California he was very, very ill. We did not realize how sick he was. And we had hardly got beyond Chicago before he began to act and talk strangely. It was all about money. The trust company he had established and built up at home has always been his great pride; it was a wonderful institution for a town like ours. ”

“ I tell you, Grace, if you didn't love Phil so much I'd be tempted to steal him away from you. He knew exactly how to do everything and he has managed it all perfectly. He took that awful trunk off my hands in Chicago, hurried back home with it and fixed everything up with the trust company; and then he came on here to determine what we should do about father. He wired two specialists to see him and they gave him a thorough examination last night. They are very reassuring and say he will be all right again. He's in that room there now asleep, the first real sleep he's had in weeks. ”

“ She told the whole of it, going back to Sue Layton's party and the gay cynicisms of her friends. When she told of her meeting with Graham and his quest for the unknown girl Alice repeatedly cried out in surprise.
“You really don't mean it, Grace? It can't be possible that man—”
“It's quite possible that John W. Graham is wildly in love with you. It's all perfectly wonderful! If I had searched the world over I could not have found a man I would rather have as a brother-in-law. ”

“ In skirts, I mean. I run down to New York often for a day of shopping and frequently eat my luncheon and dinner alone. But no man ever does that. I say that if it's all right for a man to amuse himself by taking a woman his wife doesn't know out to lunch his wife ought to have a like privilege if she meets a man who looks interesting.”
“If I ever tried my hand at it,” remarked Grace with a defiant glance in her eyes, “I should certainly never tell.”
When she reached home there was still no message from Phil. ”

“ She would show him that she was quite as independent as he. It would be easy to run down to New York for a few days and try amusing herself in her own fashion.
Once the idea had taken hold of her she made her preparations rapidly. Packing a small trunk and a suitcase, she summoned a taxi with a feeling of elation. The prospect of slipping the leash for a reckless dash into the world had brought a bright color to her cheeks.
II
She saw with relief that there was no one she knew in the train. ”

“ When we made him resign the presidency after he began to fail so rapidly, he had a queer delusion that things were not right. I was alarmed about his vagaries for a month or more before I told you he was ill. One of his delusions was that the big steel vault in the company's office was not safe, and after we reached Los Angeles I found he was carrying a lot of securities with him—half a million dollars' worth—in a trunk. ”

“ With a woman's innate zest for matchmaking, she felt that some fun might be got out of her lightly assumed role of envoy, on behalf of a chance acquaintance, to a young woman she knew not at all. The girl might be disagreeable; indeed, from Graham's account of his meeting with her in the Arlington, she had every reason to assume that her interview on the morrow might cause her serious discomfiture.
IV
As she had determined to take an afternoon train, she had set eleven o'clock as the hour for her visit. ”