The young woman was in
an odd way relieved. Every evening she went to dine with Kate Chanceller
who, when she heard the story of the afternoon in the suburb and the
incident on the porch, went off without Clara's knowing of it and had a
talk with Henderson Woodburn in his office. After the talk the manufacturer
was puzzled and just a little afraid of both Clara and her friend. He tried
to tell his wife about it, but was not very clear. "I can't make it out,"
he said. "She is the kind of woman I can't understand, that Kate. She says
Clara wasn't to blame for what happened between her and Frank Metcalf, but
don't want to tell us the story, because she thinks young Metcalf wasn't to
blame either." Although he had been respectful and courteous as he listened
to Kate's talk, he grew angry when he tried to tell his wife what she had
said. "I'm afraid it was just a lot of mixed up nonsense," he declared.
"It makes me glad we haven't a daughter. If neither of them were to blame
what were they up to? What's getting the matter with the women of the
new generation? When you come down to it what's the matter with Kate
Chanceller?"
The plow manufacturer advised his wife to say nothing to Clara. "Let's wash
our hands of it," he suggested. "She'll go home in a few days now and we
will say nothing about her coming back next year. Let's be polite, but act
as though she didn't exist.
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