Her brows went up.
"Of course not. Gladys is a dear, delightful girl. I'm as fond of her as
you are. But you can have Gladys all the rest of your life, I hope. I'm
not a snob, dear, but I do think we should recognize the fact that some
acquaintances are more improving than others."
"And cultivate them for the sake of what they can do for us?"
In Elsie's voice there was an edge of resistance, hearing which her mother,
when she was wise, would let speech die and silence do its work. Her
influence with the girl was strongest when least insisted upon. She was not
wiser than usual that morning, but the noise of the train made niceties of
statement impossible. She abandoned the argument perforce, and Elsie, left
with her retort unanswered, acknowledged its cheapness in her own quick,
strong, wordless way.
The dining-car would not be attached to the train until they reached
Ogden. At twilight they stopped "twenty minutes for refreshment," and the
Valentins took the refreshment they needed most by pacing the platform up
and down,--the tall daughter, in her severely cut clothes, shortening her
boyish stride to match her mother's step; the mother, looking older than
she need, in a light-gray traveling-cap, with Elsie's golf cape thrown over
her silk waist.
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