But
her flow of words seemed to desert her.
"Very true," I admitted. "I wonder what's bringing him back in such a
hurry."
Mrs. Bowser's beady eyes turned on me in doubt, and for a moment she
was dumb. Then she followed this miracle by another, and spoke in a low
tone of voice.
"It's not for me to say anything against a man in his own house, but I
don't like to talk of Doddridge Knapp."
"What's the matter?" I asked. "A little rough in his speech? Oh, Mrs.
Bowser, you should make allowances for a man who has had to fight his
way in the roughest business life in the world, and not expect too much
of his polish."
"Oh, laws, he's polite enough," whispered Mrs. Bowser. "It ain't that--
oh, I don't see how she ever married him."
I followed the glance that Mrs. Bowser gave on interrupting herself
with this declaration, and saw Mrs. Knapp approaching us.
"Oh," she exclaimed cheerily, "is it all settled? Have you made all the
arrangements, Cousin Julia?"
"Well, I declare! I'd forgotten all about telling him," cried Mrs.
Bowser in her shrillest tone. "I'd just taken it for a fact that he'd
know when to come."
"That's a little too much to expect, I'm afraid," said Mrs. Knapp,
smiling gaily at Mrs. Bowser's management. "I see that I shall have to
arrange this thing myself. Will Monday night suit you, Henry?"
"As well as another," said I politely, concealing my feelings as a
victim of feminine diplomacy.
"You have told him who are going, haven't you?" said Mrs.
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