He was not the only member of his family who found Martha’s return disturbing; his sister-in-law also had long thoughts connected with the arrival from Italy. That evening before dinner, Dan was whistling in his bathroom, shampooing himself lavishly, when Lena came into his bedroom and addressed him through the open door.
“I suppose you’ve seen her,” she said, and gave utterance to an emotional little titter that quickly stopped his whistling.
He had heard such semblances of amusement from her often enough to understand their prophetic meaning. “In for it again!” was instantly his thought. “Seen her?” he said. “Who do you mean?”
“Your fair mountain range,” Lena replied, affecting a light mockery. “Of course you didn’t know she’s home again! Innocent old Dannie!”
“I heard she was to get here to-day, so I suppose she’s here; but I haven’t seen her. What about it?”
“Oh, nothing!” Lena returned, continuing her archness. “Do you suppose she can stand it?”
“Why, the sight of us—of her old sweetheart married to me,” Lena explained. “She’s stayed away till she thought she could bear it, but do you suppose she _will_ be able to?”
“Yes, I think she’ll bear it,” he said gruffly and went on with his lathering.
“How about you? Do you think _you’ll_ be able to contain yourself when you——”
“Why don’t you ask me how she looks?” Lena inquired, still affecting to rally him gaily. “I know you’re dying to. I’ve seen her; I was looking from my window and saw her go out and walk up the street this afternoon. I laughed so!”
“She was such a perfect picture of a big Western woman! Absolutely typical!”
“No; your mother’s a dear thing who’d be lovely anywhere; I never think of her as Western at all,” Lena said. “She isn’t.”
“She is as much as Martha is—or anybody else. She was born here and——”
“Not at all!” Lena interrupted airily. “The real Western woman is like your mountain girl. They _love_ to be huge; that’s why they live in the prairie country—so they’ll look even bigger. One reason I laughed was because your friend was just exactly as much the typical Western woman after all this time abroad as she was before she went. She was wearing all kinds of expensive clothes, and I haven’t a doubt she’d got them in Paris, but on her they looked perfectly as Western as if she’d just bought ’em and put ’em on downtown at Kohn & Sons! Do you suppose you’ll be able to control your raptures at all when you meet her again, old innocent Dannie?”