saw the quiet little tears and smiled at them. It was then she reached into Laura's lap and found her hand and took it in her own and pressed it. The shock stopped the tears as the warmth of Beth's hand began to spread all through Laura, strange, sweet and inebriating. It was ten minutes before Laura dared to look at Beth. She was gazing serenely at the screen.
They never mentioned it but after that their hands always found each other in the dark of the theater.
CHAPTER FIVE
IT WAS SATURDAY, the day of the Varieties Show, the day Laura was to see Charlie for the second time. It was also the day that Beth's Uncle John chose to pay his niece a visit. He had made a habit every year of getting down to see Beth for at least one weekend. He liked the Varieties and he liked the football game and he liked to have dinner at the sorority house with Beth. The girls made a fuss over him, and he would sit beaming at the head table, flattering the house mother and flirting with her charges.
Laura was anxious to meet him, to see if he looked and acted anything like Beth. Emily told her he was a very impressive individual; he had been a colonel in the last war and he had a false leg.
Uncle John arrived just before dinnertime and Laura watched with mixed emotions as he folded Beth in a hug. He was a big man with a red, jovial face and he shook Laura's hand heartily and said, “Well, well, you're Beth's new roommate! How d'you do?"
"Fine, thank you,” she murmured, overcome with shyness, but Uncle John didn't notice. He was following Beth into the living room and greeting the girls he remembered from the year before.
Laura turned to Emily and said accusingly, “He doesn't look anything like Beth!” as if it were Emily s fault.
"Oh, heavens no,” said Emily. “He's not her blood relation. His wife is. She and Beth's mother were sisters."
"Oh,” said Laura, and had trouble concealing the disappointment she felt. “Does she look like Beth?
"Nope. Beth looks like her father. He died a long time ago. She has a picture of him around somewhere. It's funny. You'd think she actually knew him if you ever heard her talk about him. She was two, I think, when he died."
After dinner they went into the living room and sat on the floor in the circle of girls talking to Beth's uncle. He was enthroned on the couch with a pretty girl on either side of him, talking merrily in all directions at once. Beth sat in a chair across from him, watching him with a little smile. Every now and then he said, “Isn't that so, Elizabeth?” and she would nod in agreement.
Uncle John was a large man in many ways, fat, generous and well-heeled. He hadn't any idea of what sort of a girl his niece was underneath her pleasant exterior. All her life she had been a bright little girl and pretty, so he simply ignored her spells of melancholy and her love of books. He gave her plenty of spending money, kept her in nice clothes and nice schools, and saw her at dinner and on weekends. He didn't interfere with her private life and feelings; they simply didn't matter to him that much. She was charmingly grateful for his care so he was fond of her and had arranged for her to have an independent income on her twenty-first birthday.
Laura cringed when he began to tease Beth. “We're going to have to lock up her books until she gets herself a man,” he said, and roared amiably at his niece.
Beth grinned at him. “He's scared to death I'll wind up an old maid,” she told Laura, “and he'll never get me oft his hands."
"Now, now, honey, you know that's not true,” he chuckled.
Laura sat there almost hating Uncle John and his calm assumption that Beth wanted to get married. Couldn't he see how fine and pure she was? Her face a blank and her thoughts miles away, Laura didn't hear her buzz and it wasn't until one of the girls nudged her and whispered something that she remembered she was supposed to meet Charlie that evening.
He looked even more attractive than she
They never mentioned it but after that their hands always found each other in the dark of the theater.
CHAPTER FIVE
IT WAS SATURDAY, the day of the Varieties Show, the day Laura was to see Charlie for the second time. It was also the day that Beth's Uncle John chose to pay his niece a visit. He had made a habit every year of getting down to see Beth for at least one weekend. He liked the Varieties and he liked the football game and he liked to have dinner at the sorority house with Beth. The girls made a fuss over him, and he would sit beaming at the head table, flattering the house mother and flirting with her charges.
Laura was anxious to meet him, to see if he looked and acted anything like Beth. Emily told her he was a very impressive individual; he had been a colonel in the last war and he had a false leg.
Uncle John arrived just before dinnertime and Laura watched with mixed emotions as he folded Beth in a hug. He was a big man with a red, jovial face and he shook Laura's hand heartily and said, “Well, well, you're Beth's new roommate! How d'you do?"
"Fine, thank you,” she murmured, overcome with shyness, but Uncle John didn't notice. He was following Beth into the living room and greeting the girls he remembered from the year before.
Laura turned to Emily and said accusingly, “He doesn't look anything like Beth!” as if it were Emily s fault.
"Oh, heavens no,” said Emily. “He's not her blood relation. His wife is. She and Beth's mother were sisters."
"Oh,” said Laura, and had trouble concealing the disappointment she felt. “Does she look like Beth?
"Nope. Beth looks like her father. He died a long time ago. She has a picture of him around somewhere. It's funny. You'd think she actually knew him if you ever heard her talk about him. She was two, I think, when he died."
After dinner they went into the living room and sat on the floor in the circle of girls talking to Beth's uncle. He was enthroned on the couch with a pretty girl on either side of him, talking merrily in all directions at once. Beth sat in a chair across from him, watching him with a little smile. Every now and then he said, “Isn't that so, Elizabeth?” and she would nod in agreement.
Uncle John was a large man in many ways, fat, generous and well-heeled. He hadn't any idea of what sort of a girl his niece was underneath her pleasant exterior. All her life she had been a bright little girl and pretty, so he simply ignored her spells of melancholy and her love of books. He gave her plenty of spending money, kept her in nice clothes and nice schools, and saw her at dinner and on weekends. He didn't interfere with her private life and feelings; they simply didn't matter to him that much. She was charmingly grateful for his care so he was fond of her and had arranged for her to have an independent income on her twenty-first birthday.
Laura cringed when he began to tease Beth. “We're going to have to lock up her books until she gets herself a man,” he said, and roared amiably at his niece.
Beth grinned at him. “He's scared to death I'll wind up an old maid,” she told Laura, “and he'll never get me oft his hands."
"Now, now, honey, you know that's not true,” he chuckled.
Laura sat there almost hating Uncle John and his calm assumption that Beth wanted to get married. Couldn't he see how fine and pure she was? Her face a blank and her thoughts miles away, Laura didn't hear her buzz and it wasn't until one of the girls nudged her and whispered something that she remembered she was supposed to meet Charlie that evening.
He looked even more attractive than she
Similar Books
