Statira seemed surprised to see him; the room was pretty warm, and
her face was flushed. He said it was quite mild out, and she said,
"Was it?" Then she ran and flung up the window, and said, "Why, so
it was," and that she had been in the house all day, and had not
noticed the weather.
She excused herself and the room for being in such a state; she said
she was ashamed to be caught in such a looking dress, but they were
not expecting company, and she did suppose 'Manda Grier would have
given her time to put the room to rights a little. He could not
understand why she said all this, for the whole room was clean, and
Statira herself was beautifully dressed in the same dress that she
had worn the night before, or one just like it; and after she had
put up the window, 'Manda Grier said, "S'tira Dudley, do you want to
kill yourself?" and ran and pulled aside the curtain in the corner,
and took down the dolman from among other clothes that hung there,
and threw it on Statira's shoulders, who looked as pretty as a pink
in it. But she pretended to be too hot, and wanted to shrug it off,
and 'Manda Grier called out, "Mr. Barker! _will_ you make her
keep it on?" and Lemuel sat dumb and motionless, but filled through
with a sweet pleasure.
He tried several times to ask them if they had been robbed on the
way home last night, as he had done in the scene he had dramatised;
but he could not get out a word except that it had been pretty warm
all day.
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