XIV


KIND INQUIRIES

The colonel's drawing-room was as hot as usual the first hour after
dinner, and as usual it was full of kindly participant neighbors who had
dropped in to repeat their congratulations on the good news, now almost a
week old. Mrs. Bogardus had not come down, and, though asked after by all,
the talk was noticeably freer for her absence.

Mrs. Creve, in response to a telegram from her brother, had arrived from
Fort Sherman on the day before, prepared for anything, from frozen feet to
a wedding. She had spent the afternoon in town doing errands for Moya, and
being late for dinner had not changed her dress. There never was such a
"natural" person as aunt Annie. At present she was addressing the company
at large, as if they were all her promising children.

"Nobody talks about their star in these days. I used to have a star. I
forget which it was. I know it was a pretty lucky one. Now I trust in
Providence and the major and wear thick shoes." She exhibited the shoes, a
particularly large and sensible kind which she imported from the East.
Everybody laughed and longed to embrace her. "Has Moya got a star?" she
asked seriously.

"The whole galaxy!" a male voice replied. "Doesn't the luck prove it?"