"I beg you to believe,grandfather,that I don't wish to ride her,"said Eloise,her customary languor of manner gone and her voice hard.
"Mother is more ambitious for me than I am for myself.I should be very much obliged if she would allow me to ask favors when I want them."Mrs.Forbes's lips were set in a tight line as she filled Mrs.
Evringham's glass.
That lady's heart was beating a little fast from vexation,and also from the knowledge that a time of reckoning with her child was coming.
"Oh,very well,"she said airily."No wonder you are careful of that beautiful creature.I caught Eloise with her arms around the mare's neck the other day,and I couldn't help wishing for a kodak.You feed her with sugar,don't you Eloise?""I hope not,I'm sure!"exclaimed Mr.Evringham sternly.
"I'll not do it again,grandfather,"said the girl,her very ears burning.
Mrs.Evringham sighed and gave one Parthian shot."The poor child does love horses so,"she murmured softly.
The host scowled and fidgeted in his chair with a brusque gesture to Mrs.Forbes to remove the course.
"Harry has turned up again,"he remarked,to change the subject.
"Really?"returned his daughter-in-law languidly."For how long Iwonder?"
"He thinks it is permanent."
"He is still in Chicago?"
"Yes,for a day or two.He and his wife sail for Europe immediately.""Indeed!"with a greater show of interest.Then,curiously,"Are you sending them,father?""Scarcely!They are going on business."
"Oh,"relapsing into indifference."They have a child,I believe.""Yes,a girl.I should think perhaps you might have remembered it.""I hardly see why,if Harry didn't--a fact he plainly showed by deserting the poor creature."The insolence of the speaker's tone was scarcely veiled.Her extreme disapproval of her father-in-law sometimes welled to the surface of her suave manner.