VII


He led her to a high-backed lounge against the wall, where, seated
on its extreme edge, he gazed silently at her with an expression of
sentimental concern. Mr. Moses Feldt was a short round man, bald but
for a fluffy rim of pale hair, and with the palest imaginable eyes
in a countenance perpetually flushed by the physical necessity of
accommodating his rotundity to awkward edges and conditions. As
usual he was dressed with the nicest care--a band of white linen
laid in the opening of his waistcoat, his scarf ornamented by a
pear-shaped pearl on a diamond finished stem; his cloth-topped
varnished black shoes glistened, while his short fat fingers clasped
a prodigious unlighted cigar. At last, in a tone exactly suited to
his gaze, he exclaimed:

"So that naughty mama has gone out again and deserted Moses and her
little Linda!" In what way her mother had deserted Mr. Feldt she
failed to understand. Of course he wanted to marry them--the
comprehensive phrase was his own--but that didn't include him in
whatever they did. Principally it made a joke for their private
entertainment. Mrs. Condon would mimic his eager manner, "Stella,
let me take you both home where you'll have the best in the land,"
And, "Ladies like you ought to have a loving protection." Linda
would laugh in her cool bell-like manner, and her mother add a
satirical comment on the chance any Moses Feldt had of marrying her.

Linda at once found him ridiculous and a being who forced a