...Mr. Gale, of course, you've seen games?
"Yes, a few," replied Dick; and he laughed a little. It was on
his lips then to tell her about some of the famous games in which
he had participated. But he refrained from exploiting himself.
There was little, however, of the color and sound and cheer, of
the violent action and rush and battle incidental to a big college
football game that he did not succeed in making Mercedes and Nell
feel just as if they had been there. They hung breathless and
wide-eyed upon his words.
Some one else was present at the latter part of Dick's narrative.
The moment he became aware of Mrs. Belding's presence he remembered
fancying he had heard her call, and now he was certain she had
done so. Mercedes and Nell, however, had been and still were
oblivious to everything except Dick's recital. He saw Mrs. Belding
cast a strange, intent glance upon Nell, then turn and go silently
through the patio. Dick concluded his talk, but the brilliant
beginning was not sustained.
Dick was haunted by the strange expression he had caught on Mrs.
Belding's face, especially the look in her eyes. It had been one
of repressed pain liberated in a flash of certainty. The mother
had seen just as quickly as Mercedes how far he had gone on the
road of love. Perhaps she had seen more--even more than he dared
hope. The incident roused Gale. He could not understand Mrs.
Belding, nor why that look of hers, that seeming baffled, hopeless
look of a woman who saw the inevitable forces of life and could
not thwart them, should cause him perplexity and distress.
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