Part 9 (1/2)
”I!” murmured Laura, looking around. She feigned a surprise, though she guessed at once that Mrs. Cressler had Corth.e.l.l in mind.
”That Mr. Jadwin--the one you met at the opera.”
Genuinely taken aback, Laura sat upright and stared wide-eyed.
”Mr. Jadwin!” she exclaimed. ”Why, we didn't have five minutes' talk.
Why, I hardly know the man. I only met him last night.”
But Mrs. Cressler shook her head, closing her eyes and putting her lips together.
”That don't make any difference, Laura. Trust me to tell when a man is taken with a girl. My dear, you can have him as easy as that.” She snapped her fingers.
”Oh, I'm sure you're mistaken, Mrs. Cressler.”
”Not in the least. I've known Curtis Jadwin now for fifteen years--n.o.body better. He's as old a family friend as Charlie and I have. I know him like a book. And I tell you the man is in love with you.”
”Well, I hope he didn't tell you as much,” cried Laura, promising herself to be royally angry if such was the case. But Mrs. Cressler hastened to rea.s.sure her.
”Oh my, no. But all the way home last night--he came home with us, you know--he kept referring to you, and just so soon as the conversation got on some other subject he would lose interest. He wanted to know all about you--oh, you know how a man will talk,” she exclaimed. ”And he said you had more sense and more intelligence than any girl he had ever known.”
”Oh, well,” answered Laura deprecatingly, as if to say that that did not count for much with her.
”And that you were simply beautiful. He said that he never remembered to have seen a more beautiful woman.”
Laura turned her head away, a hand s.h.i.+elding her cheek. She did not answer immediately, then at length:
”Has he--this Mr. Jadwin--has he ever been married before?”
”No, no. He's a bachelor, and rich! He could buy and sell us. And don't think, Laura dear, that I'm jumping at conclusions. I hope I'm woman of the world enough to know that a man who's taken with a pretty face and smart talk isn't going to rush right into matrimony because of that. It wasn't so much what Curtis Jadwin said--though, dear me suz, he talked enough about you--as what he didn't say. I could tell. He was thinking hard. He was. .h.i.t, Laura. I know he was. And Charlie said he spoke about you again this morning at breakfast. Charlie makes me tired sometimes,”
she added irrelevantly.
”Charlie?” repeated Laura.
”Well, of course I spoke to him about Jadwin, and how taken he seemed with you, and the man roared at me.”
”_He_ didn't believe it, then.”
”Yes he did--when I could get him to talk seriously about it, and when I made him remember how Mr. Jadwin had spoken in the carriage coming home.”
Laura curled her leg under her and sat nursing her foot and looking into the fire. For a long time neither spoke. A little clock of bra.s.s and black marble began to chime, very prettily, the half hour of nine.
Mrs. Cressler observed:
”That Sheldon Corth.e.l.l seems to be a very agreeable kind of a young man, doesn't he?”
”Yes,” replied Laura thoughtfully, ”he is agreeable.”
”And a talented fellow, too,” continued Mrs. Cressler. ”But somehow it never impressed me that there was very much to him.”
”Oh,” murmured Laura indifferently, ”I don't know.”
”I suppose,” Mrs. Cressler went on, in a tone of resignation, ”I suppose he thinks the world and all of _you?_”