All
welcomed her into the exclusive, correct little world--not only the
shopkeepers but the buyers therein. She represented youthful love. Her
life must be, and was, an idyll! True, she had no perambulator, but
middle-aged ladies greeted her with wistfulness in their voices and in
their eyes.
She smiled often as she told and retold the story of Louis' accident,
and gave positive assurances that he was in no danger, and would
not bear a scar. She blushed often. She was shyly happy in her
unhappiness. The experience alternated between the unreal and the
real. The extraordinary complexity of life was beginning to put its
spell on her. She could not determine the relative values of the
various facets of the experience.
When she had done the important parts of her business, she thought she
would go into the covered market, which, having one entrance in
the market-place and another in Wedgwood Street, connects the two
thoroughfares. She had never been into the covered market because
Mrs. Maldon had a prejudice against its wares. She went out of mere
curiosity, just to enlarge her knowledge of her adopted town. The huge
interior, with its glazed roof, was full of clatter, shouting, and
the smell of innumerable varieties of cheese.
Pages:
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422