She was about to add, We didnt stay very long,
butstopped herself.
Otherwise Id be glad to come round to your
house.
I dont suppose your parentswere as strict as mine,
either. Howjalike the dancing over there, Miss Alden? But that in this instance
required almost more courage and decisionthan she could muster. But nosooner were
they out than five-cent admission checks were once moresold for the new
dance.
And you know dancing isnt considered so very nice
in mypart of the country.
Ill come if I can, you know,and if anything does
happen Ill tell you the next morning, yousee.
Well, then, how about the end of that street you
live in? She had no life ofher own and could contrive none.
Some friends of my sisters were coming over and I
wentwith them.
Thatsabout thirty-five miles north of here. She was
beginning to feel as though herhitherto impeccable standards were
crumbling.
I could teach you in a few minutes if you wanted
meto.
Ill just sendthem down to the wash room and then
well see if we cant restampthem. And you could be over there, or meetme on the way,
just so no one here saw us.
But the ways and means of continuingwith it were a
different matter. Also it was plain thatshe was not going to prove as useful to
Grace as they had at firstimagined.
At the same time she looked at Grace
andMr.
They were asstrict as yours and stricter, Ill bet.
You cantexpect me to get along with just looking at you in the factory,either, can
you?
But now its different, and yet I dont see how I
amgoing to get out of it so soon. Subsequentexplanation to her mother and sister
maybe. Theyre fifteen-and-a-half andIve stamped nearly all of them
sixteen.
But I ought to begoing back now, she added
nervously.
She stood quite still and unresisting in his arms.
And there was Roberta bending toward him.
And Clyde at his deskwas almost choking with
excitement.
And now Im not going tolet any old rule come
between me and you, if I can help it.
Oh, I know, replied Roberta oddly and quaintly,
maybe they do inyour set. She was about to add, We didnt stay very long, butstopped
herself. And Isuppose where you have money and position, everythings right. Braley,
therewas no other encounter until the following Saturday when Robertadeparted for
Fonda.
And thenback to the Newtons and Grace Marr and how
they watched her everymove.