Lately--for quite a long time
now--there had been Cardillac--and somehow Cards and Bobby did not get on
together and it was impossible to have them both at the same time. But now
Peter turned to Bobby with the eagerness of a return to some comfortable
old arm-chair after the brilliant new furniture of a friend's palace. Bobby
was there waiting for him. It is not to be denied that the occasional
nature of Peter's appearances had hurt them both--wounded Bobby and made
Alice angry.
"He's given us up, Bobby, now that he's found so many new friends. I
shouldn't have expected him to do that. I'm disappointed."
But Bobby nodded his head. "The boy's all right," he said, "he's just
trying to forget young Stephen and he forgets things better in Cardillac's
company than he does in mine--I'm not lively enough for that kind of thing.
He'll come back--"
But, at the same time, Bobby was anxious. Things were wrong up there at The
Roundabout, very wrong. He knew Clare and Cards and Peter and Mrs.
Rossiter, in all probability better than any one alive knew them--and he
was no fool.
Then Peter came back to him and was received as though he had never left
him; and Alice, who had intended to tell Mr. Peter what she thought of his
disloyalty, had no word to say when she saw his white drawn face and his
tired eyes.
"There's something awfully wrong up there," said Alice to Bobby that night.
Pages:
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580