Chapter 15 Section 4

"We're all there," Mary Odin said. The old master and servant Hastor wiped his face.When he came into the kitchen, Mrs. Speisser, the cook, asked why he looked so ugly. "I don't think I'm going to get any better, that's the truth," said Hustow, "and if I can express my feelings that way, it seems to me that everything that's been said and done in this room lately seems to have a purpose. —do you understand what I mean?” Spencer didn't seem to understand what he meant, so Hurstow continued: "When they were all sitting at the dinner table--Miss Odin said, 'We're all here,'--even the words startled me! It reminded me of a beast-tamer who shuts a whole herd of wild animals in cage, and shut the door. I suddenly felt as if we had all fallen into a trap."

"Oh, Mr. Hurstow," said Spencer loudly, "you must have spoiled something." "It's not my digestion. It's everybody's nervous. The front door just slammed, and Mrs. Schunk—our Mrs. Schunk, Miss Audrey—she jumped up like she'd been shot." .Also, there's a strange silence. They're all very weird. It's as if all of a sudden, everyone's afraid to talk, and then they break the silence at the same time, and say whatever comes to mind." "Enough to embarrass anyone," said Spencer loudly, "two Mrs. Schunji in the same room at the same time, my feeling is that it's not elegant."

In the dining room, there is a silence that Hustow describes. With some difficulty Mary Odin turned to Kay and said: "I want your friend, Mr. Latimer, to dine here to-morrow evening!" "Oh, good," Kay said. Neville said: "Latimer? Is he here?" "He's staying at the Tung Tau Bay Hotel," Kaye said. Neville said: "We can go there for dinner one day. When is the last ferry?" "One-thirty at night," said Mary. "I suppose you can dance there at night?" "Most of the old people live there," Kay said. "It's not much fun with your friends," Neville told Kaye.

Mary said quickly: "We can go swimming in Tung Tau Bay one day. It's still quite warm and the beach is lovely." Thomas Lloyd whispered to Audrey: "I want to go to sea tomorrow. Will you go?" "I wanna go." "We could go to sea together," Neville said. "I thought you said you were going to play golf," Kay said. "I thought about going to the golf course. But I made a fool of myself there that day. I played badly." "It's miserable!" said Kay. Neville said kindly: "Golf is a miserable game." Mary asked Kay if he played golf.

"Hit--hit more or less." Neville said: "Kay would have played really well if she had put in a little more work. She had a natural swing." Kay said to Audrey: "You don't know any sports, do you?" "Not really. I play tennis more or less—but I'm a terrible player." "Do you still play the piano, Audrey?" Thomas asked.She shook her head. "Not now." "You used to play pretty well," Neville said. "I thought you didn't like music, Neville," said Kay. "I don't know much about music," Neville said vaguely. "I always wonder how Audrey can play octaves with such small hands." Audrey was putting down her dessert knife and fork, and he looked at her. hand.Blushing a little, she said quickly, "I have a long pinky finger, and I think that helps." "Then you must be selfish," Kay said, "and if you weren't selfish, your pinky finger would be short."

"Really?" asked Mary Odin, "then I must not be selfish. See, my little fingers are rather short." "I think you're very unselfish," said Thomas Lloyd, looking at her thoughtfully. She blushed—and went on quickly: "Which of us is the least selfish? Let's compare Littlefinger. Mine is shorter than yours, Kay. I think Thomas's is shorter than mine, though." "I beat you both," Neville said, "Look," and he held out a hand. "It's just one hand," Kay said. "Your left pinky is short, but your right pinky is much longer. The left hand is what you're born with, and the right hand is what you make. So it means you're not selfish by nature." , but as time went on, it became more and more selfish."

"Can you tell fortunes, Kay?" Mary Odin asked.She held out one hand, palm up. "I was told by a fortune teller that I would have two husbands and three children. I have to work harder!" kay said: "Those little crossed hands don't mean kids, they mean going abroad. That means you're going to go abroad three times." "That doesn't seem possible either," Mary Odin said. Thomas Lloyd asked her. "Do you travel a lot?" "No, hardly ever." He could hear the regret hidden in her words. "do you want to go?" "The most unexpected thing."

He thinks slowly about her life, always serving an old woman.Calm, sophisticated, excellent management ability.He asked curiously: "Have you lived with Mrs. Trixilian for a long time?" "Nearly fifteen years. I've been coming to her since my father died. He died paralyzed in bed for several years." Then she answered the question she felt his mind really wanted to ask. "I'm thirty-six years old. That's what you want to know, isn't it?" "I do think," he admitted, "that you might—not see how old you are, you know." "That's kind of ambiguous!"

"I suppose so, but I don't mean it that way." His sad, thoughtful eyes did not move away from her face.She is not embarrassed.His gaze isn't humbling—it's genuine, thoughtful, and interested.She noticed that his eyes stopped on her hair, and she reached out to touch the white hair. "This," she said, "I've had it since I was little." "I like it," Thomas Lloyd said succinctly. He continued to look at her.She finally said in a slightly playful tone, "Okay, enough has been seen, how about it?" His brown face flushed. "Oh, I thought it was rude to stare at you like that. I was wondering--what kind of person you really are."

"Please," she said, standing up hastily.As she walked into the drawing room on Audrey's arm, she said: "Old Mr. Travis will be coming to supper tomorrow." "Who is he?" Neville asked. "He was introduced by Rows Lord. A pleasant old gentleman. He lives at the 'Palace' Hotel. He has a feeble heart and weak health, but is in every sense good, and he knows a great deal Interesting character. He was a practicing barrister or Supreme Court Advocate—I forget.” "Everyone here is horribly old," Kay said disapprovingly. She was standing under a tall lamp.Thomas was looking in her direction, and like anything that fell into his sight, she caught his slow, interested gaze.

He was struck suddenly by her intense, impassioned beauty, a beauty of vivid color and vitality.His eyes moved from her to Audrey, pale and peaceful, dressed in silver. He smiled to himself and said in a low voice: "Red Rose and White Snow." "What?" said Mary Odin, who was beside him. He repeated it. "Like the old fairy tale, you know—" Mary Odin says: "Very apt description..."