By shortening as far as possible the interval here
and by lengthening as far as possible the stay with his family, he might
cut down, in some measure, the imminent threatenings of awkwardness and
constraint; then, beyond the range of anything but letters, he might study
the unpleasant situation at his leisure and determine a future course.
He set himself to answer Amy's note. He hoped, he said, to see her in a few
days, but he was immensely busy in closing the term-work before the
holidays; he also suggested that their affair--"their" affair!--be kept
quiet for the present. Yet he had all too facile a vision of beatific
meditations that were like enough to give the situation away to all the
household; and he was nervously aware of Amy Leffingwell as continually on
the verge of bubbling confidences.
He also wrote to Lemoyne. His letter was less an announcement than a
confession.
"I like this!" began Lemoyne's reply, with abrupt, impetuous sarcasm. "You
have claimed, more than once," he went on, "to have steadied me and kept me
out of harm's way; but I've never yet made any such demands on you as you
are making on me.
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