The Breaking Point - Page 71/275

But he wondered about her, sometimes. Did she ever think of Judson

Clark, and the wreck he had made of her life? What of resentment

and sorrow lay behind her quiet face, or the voice with its careful

intonations which was so unlike Nina's?

Now and then he saw her brother. He neither liked nor disliked Gregory,

but he suspected him of rather bullying Beverly. On the rare occasions

when he saw them together there was a sort of nervous tension in the

air, and although Leslie was not subtle he sensed some hidden difference

between them. A small incident one day almost brought this concealed

dissension to a head. He said to Gregory: "By the way, I saw you in Haverly yesterday afternoon."

"Must have seen somebody else. Haverly? Where's Haverly?"

Leslie Ward had been rather annoyed. There had been no mistake about the

recognition. But he passed it off with that curious sense of sex loyalty

that will actuate a man even toward his enemies.

"Funny," he said. "Chap looked like you. Maybe a little heavier."

Nevertheless he had a conviction that he had said something better left

unsaid, and that Beverly Carlysle's glance at her brother was almost

hostile. He had that instantaneous picture of the two of them, the man

defiant and somehow frightened, and the woman's eyes anxious and yet

slightly contemptuous. Then, in a flash, it was gone.

He had meant to go home that evening, would have, probably, for he was

not ignorant of where he was drifting. But when he went back to the

office Nina was on the wire, with the news that they were to go with a

party to a country inn.

"For chicken and waffles, Les," she said. "It will be oceans of fun. And

I've promised the cocktails."

"I'm tired," he replied, sulkily. "And why don't you let some of the

other fellows come over with the drinks? It seems to me I'm always the

goat."

"Oh, if that's the way you feel!" Nina said, and hung up the receiver.

He did not go home. He went to the theater and stood at the back, with

his sense of guilt deadened by the knowledge that Nina was having what

she would call a heavenly time. After all, it would soon be over. He

counted the days. "The Valley" had only four more before it moved on.

He had already played his small part in the drama that involved Dick

Livingstone, but he was unaware of it. He went home that night, to

find Nina settled in bed and very sulky, and he retired himself in no

pleasant frame of mind. But he took a firmer hold of himself that night

before he slept. He didn't want a smash, and yet they might be headed

that way. He wouldn't see Beverly Carlysle again.