"Not on my part, mother," Sally replied rather wearily. "Now let's talk about something else."
"Be patient with my questions just a little longer," said her mother gently. "I can't drop the subject there. Has--do you think Everett has any right to understand anything that you don't? Have you let him understand anything?"
Sally did not answer for what seemed to her mother a long time. "I don't know," she answered at last, "what he thinks. To be perfectly plain, Everett has not asked me to marry him, but he may feel sure what my answer would be if he did decide to. I don't know. He is a very sure kind of a person, and he has reason to be. That is the extent of the understanding, as you call it."
"But, surely, you know what your answer would be," remonstrated Mrs. Ladue in a low voice. "It isn't right, Sally, to let him think one thing when you mean to do the opposite. I hope," she added, struck by a fresh doubt--a most uncomfortable doubt, "that you do mean to do the opposite. There can be no question about that, can there?"
"I don't know," Sally replied slowly, "what I should do. I've thought about it and I don't know."
Mrs. Ladue's hand went up to her heart involuntarily, and she made no reply for some time. "Drifting?" she asked at last.
Sally looked toward her mother and smiled. "Drifting, I suppose. It's much the easiest."
Mrs. Ladue's hand was still at her heart, which was beating somewhat tumultuously.
"Don't, Sally! Don't, I beg of you. Your whole life's happiness depends upon it. Remember your father. Everett's principles are no better than his, I feel sure. You have been so--so sturdy, Sally. Don't spoil your life now. You will find your happiness." She was on the verge of telling her, but she checked herself in time. That was Fox's business. He might be right, after all. "This mood of yours will pass, and then you would wear your life out in regrets. Say that you won't do anything rash, Sally."
"Don't worry, mother. It really doesn't matter, but I won't do anything rash. There!" She laughed and kissed her mother. "I hope that satisfies you. You were getting quite excited."
Mrs. Ladue had been rather excited, as Sally said. Now she was crying softly.
"You don't know what this means to me, Sally, and I can't tell you. I wish--oh, I wish that I had your chance! You may be sure that I wouldn't throw it away. You may be sure I wouldn't." She wiped her eyes and smiled up at Sally. "There! Now I am all right and very much ashamed of myself. Run along out, dear girl. You don't get enough of out-of-doors, Sally."