He had not dared insist,
and never had he been more consciously a guest, but could people live
on fare so scant as this? It was like Frances to want to know how
other people lived--and not to be content with knowing. But after she
knew how could she sleep at night? Great God! If there was to be a day
of judgment what could men say--men like himself and his friends?
CHAPTER VII
For half an hour longer Carmencita chatted gaily, offering dish after
dish of imaginary food with the assurance that it would cause no
sickness or discomfort, and at the child's spirit and imagination Van
Landing marveled. The years of ignorance and indifference, in which he
had not cared to know what Frances knew all men should know, came back
disquietingly, and he wondered if for him it were too late.
As Carmencita got up to clear the table he took out his watch and
looked at it, then put it quickly back lest she should see. Who was
going to take the note? Why couldn't he go to the place at which was
held the class of Little Big Sisters and get Frances? With a quick
indrawing breath he handed his host cigars.
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