370
JONATHAN STRONG
something I think you should say it on your own and not go
quoting people. That is one nice thing about the ladies on Friday
afternoons, they never quote anything.
I
suppose it
is
because they
never read except at their reading clubs where one of them reads
and the others are supposed to listen but do not. I went once, and
it was very boring. Supperburger reads a lot, but I have never heard
him quote. Everything he says comes from his own head. I wish
he would come in. I get feeling awkward when I am alone with
Mrs. Supperburger very long. She
is
looking a little wistful, reading
one of the pages in Swinburne. Her eyes are even a little wet.
If
she cries I will not know what to say. It is just like with Charles,
although Charles
is
a self-pitier. I am afraid of saying nothing. The
sunlight
is
coming
in
the windows at quite a slant now. All the dust on
the round table by the couch shows.
MRS. S. Do you like the way I keep the house, Patrick?
P. You know it's my favorite house on the hill, Aunt Ruth,
and I've been in most of them.
I said that with a laugh. I am beginning to feel very funny.
I have never heard her say these sorts of things.
MRS. S. I wasn't sure about having everything so Victorian
at first. Arthur wanted it, so we did. I've kept it just as he liked
all these years.
She is talking as though she was one of the old ladies. But
she
is
only forty-five, I think. I might say she is almost being a
little self-pitying.
MRS. S. Does it seem old-fashioned, Patrick? Arthur says the
reaction against Victorian things
is
over and they are coming back
in fashion. I think he's right. The way you dress. That hat's out of
Dickens. And your boots, not the cowboy ones but the others. You're
like a street urchin. Do you suppose there will be street urchins again,
like gypsies?
P. There always have been, I imagine.
MRS. S. I never noticed them till now. They're all over the
hill.
Kids
like you all decked out in bright colors. Every afternoon
they're swarming up and down. I see them dancing in the windows.
In the summer they're down by the river singing with their guitars.
It's hats and boots, I think, and lots of hair and colors. When I was
