Evidently she was going to sulk in the hope that this
would prove that any party was a failure at which she did not
exert herself to be gracious. It had not been in Linda's heart
to do more than sit quietly in the place belonging by right to
her, but when she realized what was going to happen, she sent
Marian one swift appealing glance, and then desperately plunged
into conversation to cover Eileen's defection.
"I have been told," she said, addressing the author, "that you
are looking for a home in California. Is this true, or is it
merely that every good Californian hopes this will happen when
any distinguished Easterner comes our way?"
"I can scarcely answer you," said Peter Morrison, "because my
ideas on the subject are still slightly nebulous, but I am only
too willing to see them become concrete."
"You have struck exactly the right place," said Linda. "We have
concrete by the wagon load in this valley and we are perfectly
willing to donate the amount required to materialize your ideas.
Do you dream of a whole ranch or only a nest?"
"Well, the fact is," answered Peter Morrison with a most
attractive drawl in his slow speech, "the fact is the dimensions
of my dream must fit my purse. Ever since I finished college I
have been in newspaper work and I have lived in an apartment in
New York except while I was abroad. When I came back my paper
sent me to San Francisco and from there I motored down to see for
myself if the wonderful things that are written about Los Angeles
County are true.
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