“Not always,” said Arnold, dryly. The two men drifted into a business discussion that neither Mrs. Lewis nor Ruth cared to follow.
“Are you quite ready?” asked Mrs. Lewis, drawing her chair closer to Ruth’s.
“Entirely,” she replied; “we start on the 8.30 train in the morning.”
“You will be gone a month, will you not?”
“Yes; we wish to get back for the holidays. New Year’s falls on the 12th of September, and we must give the house its usual holiday cleaning.”
“I have begun already. Somehow I never thought you would mind being away.”
“Why, we always go to the Temple, you know; and I would not miss the Atonement services for a great deal.”
“Why don’t you say ‘Yom Kippur,’ as everybody else does?”
“Because ‘Atonement’ is English and means something to me. Is there anything odd about that?”
“I suppose not. By the way, if there is anything you would like to have done while you are away, let me know.”
“I think I have seen to everything. You might run in and see Louis now and then.”
“Louis,” Mrs. Lewis called instantly, “be sure to come in often for dinner while the folks are gone.”
“Thank you; I shall. The last dinner I ate with you was delicious enough to do away with any verbal invitation to another.”
He arose, seeing Ruth had risen and was kissing her cousins good-by.
Mrs. Lewis beamed with pleasure at his words.
“Now, won’t you take something before you go?” she asked. “Ruth, I have the loveliest cakes.”
“Oh, Jennie,” remonstrated Ruth, as her cousin bustled off, “we have just dined.”
“Let her enjoy herself,” observed Louis; “she is never so happy as when she is feeding somebody.”
The clink of glasses was soon heard, and Mrs. Lewis’s rosy face appeared behind a tray with tiny glasses and a plate of rich, brown-looking little cakes.
“Jo, get the Kirsch. You must try one, Ruth; I made them myself.”
When they had complimented her on her cakes and Louis had drunk to his next undertaking, suggested by Jo Lewis, the visitors departed.
They had been walking in almost total silence for a number of blocks, when Ruth turned suddenly to him and said with great earnestness,--
“Louis, what is the matter with you? For the last few days you have hardly spoken to me. Have I done anything to annoy you?”