And then the widow closed the discussion. "I have decided," she said, "to adopt Mr. Malleson's suggestion, and hold the matter under advisement." She turned to Barry. "I shall be glad to see you at any time, here or at my office in the Potter Building."
Again those wonderful eyes, looking him through and through, not boldly or coquettishly, or in any unseemly way, but with a magnetic power that a far stronger will than his would have been unable to resist. Ruth rose and took Mrs. Bradley's hand.
"I want you to come and see me," she said. "We shall find so many things to talk about. You will come soon, won't you?" She turned to Lamar and bowed smilingly. "You see, Mr. Lamar," she said, "we women will have our own way, and Mrs. Bradley is just like the rest of us. Barry, if you and Jane are going now, I'll ride down the hill with you."
"We're going now," replied Miss Chichester, firmly. "Come, Barry!"
But Barry, who had risen, stood as if in a dream.
"Come, Barry!" repeated Miss Chichester. "Ruth is already in the street."
It was not until she laid her hand on his sleeve that he really awoke and was able, in some fashion, to make his adieux. He remembered, afterward, much to his dismay, that he had shaken hands cordially with Lamar, and had invited him to call some day at the office and go over to the City Club with him for luncheon.
When they were gone, the door from the kitchen was opened, and the little, gray-haired, wrinkled-faced old woman who had been there on the day of Barry's first call looked in.
"Have they all gone?" she inquired.
"All but Steve, mother," her daughter replied.
"He don't count," she said. "Who was the young lady that came first?"
"That was Miss Ruth Tracy."
