"
"That is exactly as it should be," said Gilman. "I never
realized till the other night at dinner that you have grown such
a great girl, Linda. That's fine! Fix your workroom the way you
would like to have it, and if there's anything I can do to help
you in any way, you have only to command me. I haven't seen you
often lately."
"No," said Linda, "but I don't feel that it is exactly my fault.
Marian and I were always pals. When I saw that you preferred
Eileen, I kept with Marian to comfort her all I could. I don't
suppose she cared, particularly. She couldn't have, or she would
at least have made some effort to prevent Eileen from
monopolizing you. She probably was mighty glad to be rid of you;
but since you had been together so much, I thought she might miss
you, so I tried to cover your defection."
John Gilman's face flushed. He stood very still, while he seemed
deeply thoughtful.
"Of course you were free to follow your inclinations, or Eileen's
machinations, whichever you did follow," Linda said lightly, "but
'them as knows' could tell you, John, as Katy so well puts it,
that you have made the mistake of your young life."
Then she turned and went to the garage, leaving John to his visit
with Eileen.
The Eileen who took possession of John was an Eileen with whom he
was not acquainted. He had known, the night of the dinner party,
that Eileen was pouting, but there had been no chance to learn
from her what her grievance was, and by the next time they met
she was a bundle of flashing allurement, so he ignored the
occurrence.
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