And her astonishment would have been milder had she had
been in the habit of going out at night. Like all those who never went
out at night, she had quite failed to keep pace with the advancing
stride of the Five Towns on the great road of civilization.
More impressive still than the extreme radiance about her was the
easy and superb gesture of Louis as, swinging the reticule containing
pineapple, cocoa, and cutlets, he slid his hand into his pocket
and drew therefrom a coin and smacked it on the wooden ledge of the
ticket-window--gesture of a man to whom money was naught provided
he got the best of everything. "Two!" he repeated, with slight
impatience, bending down so as to see the young woman in white who sat
in another world behind gilt bars. He was paying for Rachel! Exquisite
experience for the daughter and sister of Fleckrings! Experience
unique in her career! And it seemed so right and yet so wondrous,
that he should pay for her!... He picked up the change, and without
a glance at them dropped the coins into his pocket. It was a glorious
thing to be a man! But was it not even more glorious to be a girl
and the object of his princely care?... They passed a heavy draped
curtain, on which was a large card, "Tea-Room," and there seemed to be
celestial social possibilities behind that curtain, though indeed it
bore another and smaller card: "Closed after six o'clock"--the result
of excessive caution on the part of a kill-joy Town Council.
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