The night came swiftly,
lit by his familiar lamps; Rudolph moved about in the orderly
disposition of fresh white laundry. A coat needed pressing. It would do
to-morrow. The doctor hurt him with a little scraping stab at the
bottom of his ear.
"Mariana," he at last made the effort of speech, questioning: "I have
been bothered about your--your temporary arrangement. That Harriet, you
know ... make trouble."
"Why, Howat," she replied, admirably detached; "you don't read the
important sheets of the papers! Harriet has made a tremendous success
with what was supposed to be a small part. A New York manager has
engaged her in letters of fire, for an unthinkable amount. James and I
sent her our obscure compliments, but we were virtuously rebuked by a
legal gentleman. Harriet, it seems, is going to cast us off."
Of all that she had said only the word obscure remained in his mind; and
it roused in him an echo of his old, dogmatic pride. "Mariana," he
demanded, "didn't the reorganization come about; isn't James Polder
superintendent?"
She hesitated, then replied in a low, steady voice. "Yes, Howat, it did;
but they didn't move Jim up. An older, they said steadier, man was
chosen." It was the oranges, he told himself, the oranges and brandy;
the cursed young fool.
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