Part 56 (1/2)
”No. I found you then--and myself--and thought it was too late!”
Later, across the table, when Slim Jim had brought in the after-dinner coffee, Haig looked at her gravely, and said:
”May I become very practical for a minute, Marion?”
”Yes, but not too practical.”
”Well, it's like this: I've got--”
He paused to reach for her hand, to clasp it on the cloth.
”_When_, Marion?” he asked, leaning toward her.
”Oh, we must talk with Claire about that, mustn't we?” she protested, blus.h.i.+ng. Then softly: ”She's the only mother I've got, you see. And besides, there's no--”
”No, not even a justice of the peace!” he said, laughing. ”We might strap on our old snowshoes, and go to Tellurium.”
”The idea!”
”Well, listen. Do you know what I've been thinking?”
She shook her head.
”Paris.”
”Paris?” she repeated, a little startled, after all that he had revealed to her.
”Yes. I've got a little money in the bank in Tellurium, and I--”
”You needn't be so proud of it!” she retorted. ”So have I, in New York. So you needn't think it's your money I'm after, sir!”
They laughed, and then he had both her hands across the table.
”It isn't much, I a.s.sure you,” he went on. ”But it will do for a while in Paris. I mean--if you will go with me--to find my old master, or another. You know, Marion, he said to me many times: 'You're going to be a painter some day, _mon pet.i.t_; you're going to do big things, if you'll work, work, work.' And so--”
”You'll paint again!” she cried. ”Oh, and I shall keep house for you!
You may not believe it, but I'm a splendid cook. But I've got to have salt. You must earn enough to buy salt!”
”I'll try.”
At that he rose, and went again to the cabinet from which he had brought the photograph, and returned with his hands behind his back.
”What do you suppose I've got for our mantelpiece--if we have such a thing in our attic?”
”What in the world, Philip?”