"I like it myself, Molly," she confessed, holding it off at arm's length the better to admire it.
She wondered how long it took to get into Philadelphia and back, if one were in a hurry....
Presently some of the golfers came in, ravenous for luncheon. In a sudden accession of shyness, Joan hid her bracelet in her pocket. She surprised them by offering to go back with them later to the golf-links.
"Perhaps I'll catch a golf-germ," she explained.
"What, no engagement for this afternoon? Where's our Eduard?" murmured Mrs. Rossiter, who was one of the party.
But Joan had learned long since to meet impertinence with a noncommittal smile.
After an hour or so of polite attention to the game, however, her interest flagged. She knew that when Eduard got home he would come to look for her, and she had a sudden dread of their first meeting before others, under the observant eyes of May Rossiter in particular. She made an excuse of letters to write, and walked back through their favorite woodland, on the chance of his meeting her there. Eduard had rather an instinct for that sort of thing.
But when she reached Longmeadow, there was no sign of him. Nor did he appear that night at dinner. No comment whatever was made upon his absence.
Joan became uneasy. Surely it was very strange that he should leave her for so long a time just now, without explanation!
An explanation offered itself that drove the blood out of her cheeks--His habits! What did Betty know about them? Men who drink do not always choose the bosom of the family in which to indulge their weakness. In the reaction of emotion upon an artistic temperament, anything might be happening!
The thought roused in Joan one of her finest traits: an immediate response to any call upon her protection. That he had so soon failed her was no reason for her to fail him. She must try to understand, and wait....
People dropped in after dinner, among them as usual Mrs. Rossiter; and Joan, chatting rather abstractedly with one of her admirers in a corner of the porch, caught fragments of conversation from the room within, between Mrs. Rossiter and her hostess.
"Yes, thank Heaven! The Arnolds have postponed their cruise three times, waiting for him. Why people put up with his shilly-shallying, I'm sure I don't know!"