CHAPTER XXIII
AN ENCOUNTER WITH BRECK
MRS. SEWALL didn't remain long with me in the library after dinner. She excused herself to retire early. I was to read aloud to her later, when Marie called me. I was dawdling over a bit of sewing as I waited. My thoughts were busy, my cheeks hot. The experience of the day, climaxing in Mrs. Sewall's warm words, had excited me, I suppose. I wondered if first nights before footlights on Broadway could be more thrilling than this success of mine. Was it my new feeling of sisterhood that so elated me—or was it, more, Mrs. Sewall's capitulation? Was I still susceptible to flattery?
"Well, hello!" suddenly somebody interrupted.
I recognized the voice. My heart skipped a beat, I think, but my practiced needle managed to finish its stitch.
"Hello, there," the voice repeated, and I looked up and saw Breckenridge Sewall smiling broadly at me from between heavy portières.
"Hello, Breck," I said, and holding my head very high I inquired, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm stopping here," he grinned. "What are you doing?"
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