Page 381 - tender-is-the-night

‘Is the little sick boy better?’ he inquired pleasantly.
‘Better, yes, but he still has the eruptions frequently.’
‘That’s too bad—I’m very sorry. But you see our children
mustn’t be bathed in his water. That’s out of the question—
I’m sure your mistress would be furious if she had known
you had done a thing like that.’
‘I?’ She seemed thunderstruck. ‘Why, I merely saw your
maid had difficulty with the heater—I told her about it and
started the water.’
‘But with a sick person you must empty the bathwater
entirely out, and clean the tub.’
‘I?’
Chokingly the woman drew a long breath, uttered a con-
vulsed sob and rushed from the room.
‘She mustn’t get up on western civilization at our ex-
pense,’ he said grimly.
At dinner that night he decided that it must inevitably
be a truncated visit: about his own country Hosain seemed
to have observed only that there were many mountains and
some goats and herders of goats. He was a reserved young
man—to draw him out would have required the sincere ef-
fort that Dick now reserved for his family. Soon after dinner
Hosain left Mary and the Divers to themselves, but the old
unity was split—between them lay the restless social fields
that Mary was about to conquer. Dick was relieved when, at
nine-thirty, Mary received and read a note and got up.
‘You’ll have to excuse me. My husband is leaving on a
short trip— and I must be with him.’
Next morning, hard on the heels of the servant bringing

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