She had merely continued to play, to keep her imagination
on that plane sometimes called the fool's paradise.
III
She realized abruptly that here was the secret of her longing for children.
They would have been the real thing, given a serious translation to life.
But she had enjoyed the gay life of her little world, nevertheless, and
with all the abandon of a youth which had just closed its first long
chapter in that silent room on top of the hill. And no one could have asked
for a more delightful companion to play with than Morty, when his working
hours were over.
Mortimer loved society. It had been simply delicious, poor darling, to
watch his secret delight, under his perfect repose, the first time they
spent a week-end in Mrs. Hunter's magnificent "villa" at Burlingame. Even
Aileen had treated his initiation as a matter of course; and they had spent
the afternoon at the club, where he drank whiskey and soda on equal terms
with many millionaires.
IV
It was doubtful if he enjoyed similarly his first visit to Rincona during
their engagement: after all the powwow was over and the family had grimly
surrendered to avoid the scandal of an elopement.
Alexina recalled that dreadful day. They had all sat on the verandah on
the shady side of the house: her mother, Aunt Clara Groome, Maria, Susan
Belling and Grace Montgomery, Tom Abbott's sisters, whose homes were in
Alta, and Coralie Geary, born Brannan, of Fair Oaks (now Atherton) who had
married a nephew of Mrs.
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