She talked me into a tangled foolishness in five minutes; made me look
like a whiskered hypocrite. Nothing I said sounded real, and yet I must
be right. Suppose Harriet should turn nasty, suppose--oh, a thousand
things."
"It isn't arguable," Howat Penny agreed.
This afforded the other no consolation. "What is she to do?" he
demanded. "Mariana won't settle quietly against a wall. She told you
that. She's full of--of a sort of energy that must be at something.
Mariana hasn't the anchor of most women--respectability."
"Am I to gather that that is no longer considered admirable?" the elder
inquired. "If you gather anything you are lucky," Polder replied
gloomily. "I'm not sure about my own name. Good-night," he disappeared
abruptly.
Above, Howat slowly made his preparations for retiring, infinitely
weary. Waking problems fell from him like a leaden weight into the sea
of unconsciousness. He was relieved, at breakfast, to see Mariana come
down in a hat, with the jacket of her suit on an arm. He waited for her
to indicate the train by which she was leaving, so that he could tell
Honduras to have the motor ready; but she sat around in a dragging
silence. Polder walked up and down the room in which they were gathered.
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