Mrs. Brandeis reached for the
cream pitcher and poured a little more cream over Theodore's
baked apple. Even as she did it her eyes met Fanny's, and
in them was a certain sly amusement, a little gleam of fun,
a look that said, "Neither do I." Fanny sat back,
satisfied. Here, at least, was some one who understood.
At half past seven Theodore, looking very brushed and
sleek, went off to meet Emil Bauer. Mrs. Brandeis had
looked him over, and had said, "Your nails!" and sent him
back to the bathroom, and she had resisted the desire to
kiss him because Theodore disliked demonstration. "He hated
to be pawed over," was the way he put it. After he had
gone, Mrs. Brandeis went into the dining-room where Fanny
was sitting. Mattie had cleared the table, and Fanny was
busy over a book and a tablet, by the light of the lamp that
they always used for studying. It was one of the rare
occasions when she had brought home a school lesson. It was
arithmetic, and Fanny loathed arithmetic. She had no head
for mathematics. The set of problems were eighth-grade
horrors, in which A is digging a well 20 feet deep and 9
feet wide; or in which A and B are papering two rooms, or
building two fences, or plastering a wall.
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