His mother laughed, and Polly stood smiling. Tom fumed. "Was this all the sympathy he was to win for his self-appointed martyrdom?"
Just as he had lost the last vestige of hope in life, Polly said to his mother: "I haven't seen Tom before, today, to wish him a merry Christmas and to give him my present."
"Oh!" ejaculated Mrs. Latimer, wisely, and slipped from the room, closing the hall door very quietly after her.
Tom opened one eye and began to wonder if it was worth while--this living business? When Polly smiled so angelically upon him, in spite of his ludicrous pose and appearance, he thought he might make one more trial of temporal existence.
Then Polly said, "I am sorry I could not reach you by telephone today, Tom. I had a little surprise for you, that I'm sure you will like. Shall I show you now?"
"Maybe it ids egsadtly wha'd I wads plannig to ags you?" said Tom, sitting up with interest, and forgetting the tub of hot water with his feet slowly par-boiling in it.
"Here it is. Isn't it neat and business-like?" said Polly, as she handed him a small paste-board card.
"POLLY BREWSTER DECORATOR NEW YORK CITY _Representing Ashby Shops, New York and London_."
Tom's shocked surprise at the unexpected announcement, so different from what he had expected, rendered him speechless for a full minute. During this pause, Polly patted his damp hair just as she might have patted her brother John's head, or a faithful Newfoundland's shaggy dome. This latter was Tom's thought.
The gentle touch, combined with his resentful feelings about the business announcement, made him lose all self-control. He was so furious that he could not find his voice, and if he had, his words would have been unintelligible because of the head-cold. He sprang up from the chair, forgetful of his blanket swaddlings, and the large basin in which his feet were still immersed.
He lifted his hand above his head in a melodramatic way of denunciation, but the tragic effect was completely ruined when the porcelain basin began slipping across the hard-wood floor. He wildly threw out both hands to clutch at something for support, but the low chair he had occupied was not near the dressing table nor any other article of furniture in the room.