Again he
found himself friends with her--friends as though nothing whatever had
happened! Could it be that a woman who had so sinned could go right on?
Here was Laura, serenely unconscious of guilt, and smiling into her future,
dreaming still of happiness, quite plainly sure of it, in fact! With a
curious dismayed relief Roger would scowl at this daughter of his--a
radiant enigma in his quiet sober house.
But Edith was not at all perplexed. When she learned from Deborah that
there was soon to be a divorce, she came at once to her father. Her face
was like a thundercloud.
"A nice example for my children!" she indignantly exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, my dear. But what can I do?"
"You can make her go back to her husband, can't you?"
"No, I can't," he flatly replied.
"Then I'd better try it myself!"
"You'll do no such thing!" he retorted. "I've gone clear to the bottom of
this--and I say you're to leave her alone!"
"Very well," she answered. And she did leave her sister alone, so severely
that Laura soon avoided being home for lunch or dinner. She had taken the
room which George had occupied ever since John had been turned out, and
there she breakfasted late in bed, until Edith put a stop to it. They
barely spoke to each other now. Laura still smiled defiance.
Days passed. Christmas came at last, and despite Edith's glum resolution to
make it a happy time for the children, the happiness soon petered out.
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