none of the ladies relaxed at vernon’s approach, mrs. overman hodge-lathrop least of all. on the contrary she seemed to swell into proportions that were colossal and terrifying, and when vernon came within her sphere of influence his manner at once subdued itself into an apology.
“why, amelia—mrs. hodge-lathrop!” he cried, “and mrs. standish, mrs. barbourton, mrs. trales, mrs. langdon—how do you do?”
he went, of course, straight to mrs. overman hodge-lathrop’s side, the side that sheltered amelia, and he tried to take the hands of both women at once. amelia gave him hers coldly, without a word and without a look. he grew weak, inane, and laughed uneasily.
“delightful morning,” he said, “this country air down here is—”
“morley,” said mrs. overman hodge-lathrop, severely, “take that seat at the foot of the table.”
he obeyed, meekly. the ladies, he thought, from the rustle of their skirts, withdrew themselves subtly. the only glances they vouchsafed him were side-long and disapproving. he found it impossible to speak, and so waited. he could not recall having experienced similar sensations since those menacing occasions of boyhood when he had been sent to the library to await his father’s coming.
“delightful morning, indeed!” mrs. overman hodge-lathrop said, in her most select tones. “delightful morning to bring us poor old ladies down into the country!”
“i bring you down!” ejaculated vernon.
“morley,” she said, “i don’t wish to have one word from you, not one; do you understand? your talent for speech has caused trouble enough as it is. lucky we shall be if we can undo the half of it!”
vernon shrank.
“morley vernon,” mrs. overman hodge-lathrop continued, “do you know what i have a notion to do?”
“no, mrs. hodge-lathrop,” he said in a very little voice.
“well, sir, i’ve a notion to give you a good spanking.”
vernon shot a glance at her.
“oh, you needn’t look, sir,” she continued, “you needn’t look! it wouldn’t be the first time, as you well know—and it isn’t so many years ago—and i have your mother’s full permission, too.”
the chain of ladylike sympathy that passed about the table at this declaration was broken only when its ends converged on vernon. even then they seemed to pinch him.
“your poor, dear mother,” mrs. overman hodge-lathrop went on, “insisted, indeed, on coming down herself, but i knew she could never stand such a trip. i told her,” and here mrs. overman hodge-lathrop paused for an instant, “i told her that i thought i could manage.”
there was a vast significance in this speech.
the waiter had brought the substantials to the ladies, and mrs. overman hodge-lathrop began eating determinedly.
“it was, of course, just what i had always predicted,” she went on, in a staccato that was timed by the rise of her fork to her lips, “i knew that politics would inevitably corrupt you, soon or late. and now it has brought you to this.”
“to what?” asked vernon, suddenly growing bold and reckless. amelia had not given him one glance; she was picking at her chop.
mrs. overman hodge-lathrop, raising her gold glasses and setting them aristocratically on the bridge of her nose, fixed her eyes on vernon.
“morley,” she said, “we know. we have heard and we have read. the chicago press is an institution that, fortunately, still survives in these iconoclastic days. you know very well, of course, what i mean. please do not compel me to go into the revolting particulars.” she took her glasses down from her nose, as if that officially terminated the matter.
“but really, mrs. hodge-lathrop,” said vernon. he was growing angry, and then, too, he was conscious somehow that miss greene was looking at him. his waiter, john, timidly approached with a glance at the awful presence of mrs. overman hodge-lathrop, and said:
“yo’ breakfus, senato’, is gettin’ col’.”
“that may wait,” said mrs. overman hodge-lathrop, and john sprang back out of range.
vernon was determined, then, to have it out.
“really, mrs. hodge-lathrop, jesting aside—”
“jesting!” cried mrs. overman hodge-lathrop, “jesting! indeed, my boy, this is quite a serious business!” she tapped with her forefinger.
“well, then, all right,” said vernon, “i don’t know what i’ve done. all i have done has been to champion a measure—and i may add, without boasting, i hope, with some success—all i have done has been to champion a measure which was to benefit your sex, to secure your rights, to—”
“morley!” mrs. overman hodge-lathrop said, cutting him short. “morley, have you indeed fallen so low? it is incomprehensible to me, that a young man who had the mother you have, who had the advantages you have had, who was born and bred as you were, should so easily have lost his respect for women!”
“lost my respect for women!” cried vernon, and then he laughed. “now, mrs. hodge-lathrop,” he went on with a shade of irritation in his tone, “this is too much!”
mrs. overman hodge-lathrop was calm.
“have you shown her any respect?” she went on. “have you not, on the contrary, said and done everything you could, to drag her down from her exalted station, to pull her to the earth, to bring her to a level with men, to make her soil herself with politics, by scheming and voting and caucusing and buttonholing and wire-pulling? you would have her degrade and unsex herself by going to the polls, to caucuses and conventions; you would have her, no doubt, in time, lobbying for and against measures in the council chamber and the legislature.”
mrs. overman hodge-lathrop paused and lifted her gold eye-glasses once more to the bridge of her high, aristocratic nose.
“is it that kind of women you have been brought up with, morley? do we look like that sort? glance around this table—do we look like that sort of women?”
the ladies stiffened haughtily, disdainfully, under the impending inspection, knowing full well how easily they would pass muster.
“and, if that were not enough,” mrs. overman hodge-lathrop went on inexorably, “we come here to plead with you and find you hobnobbing with that mannish thing, that female lawyer!”
she spoke the word female as if it conveyed some distinct idea of reproach. she was probing another chop with her fork. she had sent the pot of coffee back to the kitchen, ordering the waiter to tell the cook that she was accustomed to drink her coffee hot.
“and now, morley vernon, listen to me,” she said, as if he were about to hear the conclusion of the whole matter. “if you have any spark of honor left in you, you will undo what you have already done. this resolution must be defeated in the senate to-day; i am down here to see that it is done. we go to the state house after breakfast, and these ladies will assist me in laying before each member of the senate this matter in its true and exact light. as for our rights,” she paused and looked at him fixedly, “as for our rights, i think we are perfectly capable of preserving them.”
her look put that question beyond all dispute.
“and now,” she resumed, “you would better take a little breakfast yourself; you look as if you needed strength.”
vernon rose. he stood for an instant looking at amelia, but she glanced at him only casually.
“i suppose, amelia, i shall see you later in the morning?”
“i suppose so, mr. vernon,” she said. “but pray do not let me keep you from rejoining your companion.” she was quite airy, and lifted her coffee-cup with one little finger quirked up higher than he had ever seen it before.
he went back to where miss greene sat, and where his breakfast lay.
“my goodness!” he said, seating himself. “i’ve had a time!”
“i should imagine so,” said miss greene.
she was just touching her napkin to her lips with a final air. she carefully pushed back her chair, and rose from the table.
“i beg your pardon,” he stammered, getting up himself, “i’ll see you after breakfast.”
miss greene bowed. then she left the dining-room.
