Free His One Woman by Paula Marshall Page B

and Thomas and their dead father a zest for life and conflict which added spice to their days and gave form and meaning to that which without it would be empty and void…
    Jack called on the Hopes on his way home. He had much to tell them and, besides, he wanted to see Marietta again. Instead, he found Sophie installed in the parlour, drinking tea with Aunt Percival. They both welcomed him warmly.
    Sophie said, ‘What a pity, Marietta has just gone upstairs to copy some notes for the Senator. Never mind, I’m sure that we can entertain you. Will you be going to the Van Horns’ Ball tomorrow evening? I shall be sure to look after you if you are.’
    â€˜Yes, we are all invited. It seems that we have become one of the curiosities of Washington—or perhaps it might be more truthful to say that Charles and Alan have. They are the ones who are the old English gentlemen, not me.’
    â€˜Oh, no,’ said Sophie vigorously. ‘I’m sure thatyou’re wrong there. You are so much more like we Americans than Charles and Alan and are therefore more welcome.’
    Jack made a suitably modest reply. Aunt Percival excused herself for a moment, and Sophie took the opportunity to lean forward and say, ‘Now we may speak at ease. I never seem to say anything of which Aunt Percival approves when we are together. Of course, she thinks Marietta is the pink of perfection, but we cannot all be serious all the time, can we?’
    â€˜No, indeed,’ said Jack, although he was thinking that one of Sophie’s problems might be that she could never be serious at any time. One could forgive her, though. She was such a sweet young thing in her pretty pink-and-white toilette with a small posy of artificial rosebuds at her throat and a pale blue sash around her tiny waist. Age would perhaps mature her: after all, she was not yet twenty.
    They were not to be left alone long, though. Aunt Percival reappeared with Marietta in her train. The look Sophie threw her would have slain a tiger at six paces. It was really too bad of the silly old woman to drag Marietta downstairs when she had had Jack to herself for once.
    Inevitably the nature of the tea party took quite a different turn with Plain Jane there. Marietta wanted to know how Jack and the rest had fared on Capitol Hill, and insisted on hearing all the details. She tried to bring Sophie into the conversation, but to no avail.
    â€˜I am sick of hearing about the war,’ she complained. ‘It’s all anyone wishes to talk about thesedays. Why can’t they wait until it starts? If it does, that is. Nothing could be more horrid.’
    What could her hearers say to her that would not distress her the more?
    Jack said, ‘Not everything takes second place to the coming war, Sophie, although it is not surprising that everyone is obsessed by it. You must allow me to escort you, Miss Marietta and Miss Percival to the theatre before we leave, and we can forget war and its pains while we are there. I hear that Edwin Booth’s acting is so remarkable that he would put his London rivals to shame were he to visit England.’
    He could see at once that this was not at all what Sophie wanted to hear. An evening at the theatre which included Marietta would be no fun at all. Why did he wish to drag her along?
    â€˜It is too bad,’ she complained. ‘Just when I came to Washington, too. None of my cousins had to compete with a war.’
    â€˜On the other hand,’ Jack said with a smile, ‘it’s most likely that if it were not for the coming war then Alan, Charles and I would never have visited the States.’
    â€˜There is that,’ she admitted. ‘But you will not be staying in Washington long, I understand. Do you have to leave so soon?’
    â€˜Not so soon as Alan and Charles, but soon enough, I fear. All the more reason, then, for us to enjoy ourselves now.’
    â€˜You could come with us to the