The Precipice, page 29 by Elia W. Peattie
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erybody, but she sometimes has trouble in making others see it the same way."
Honora seemed not to mind his chaffing.
"Yes," she agreed, "I've already thought, but I haven't had time to tell Kate. Do you remember that Mrs. Goodrich said last night at dinner that her friend Miss Addams was looking about for some one to take the place of a young woman who was married the other day? She was an officer of the Children's Protective League, you remember."
"Oh, that--" broke in Fulham. He turned toward Kate and looked her over from head to foot, till the girl felt a hot wave of indignation sweep over her. But his glance was impersonal, apparently. He paid no attention to her embarrassment. He seemed merely to be getting at her qualities by the swiftest method. "Well," he said finally, "I dare say you're right. But--" he hesitated.
"Well?" prompted his wife.
"But won't it be rather a--a waste?" he asked. And again he smiled, this time with some hidden meaning.
"Of course it won't be a waste," declared Honora. "Aren't women to serve their city as well as men? It's a practical form of patriotism, according to my mind."
Kate broke into a nervous laugh.
"I hope I'm to be of some use," she said. "Work can't come a moment too soon for me. I was beginning to think--"
She paused.
"Well?" supplied Fulham, still with that watchful regard of her.
"Oh, that I had made a mistake about myself--that I wasn't going to be anything in particular, after all."
* * * * *
They were interrupted. A man sprang up the outside steps and rang the doorbell imperatively.
"It's Karl Wander," announced Fulham, who had glanced through the window. "It's your cousin, Honora."
He went to the door, and Kate heard an emphatic and hearty voice making hurried greetings.
"Stopped between trains," it was saying. "Can stay ten minutes precisely--not a second longer. Came to see the babies."
Honora had arisen with