Page:Claire Ambler (1928).djvu/172



LAIRE was to see this troubled look upon the ruddy face of the English spinster repeated frequently. "What's the matter with that woman?" the girl asked her mother one day in their small salon. "She looked so reliable and solid when they first came here—not that she looked happy, of course, if you caught her off her guard when her brother wasn't looking—but anyhow she hadn't that fretting expression you see about her eyes and mouth so much lately. It can't be because Mr. Orbison's health is worse, because it isn't; he's just the same."

Mrs. Ambler sighed. "I shouldn't think one would need to seek far for the reason a sister would look troubled with a brother in that shattered condition—especially when the brother's as lovely a man as hers is. I've discovered that since we've begun to see so much of them. He is lovely."

"Yes," Claire said absently. "But I meant something different—that expression she's got just lately."

"I haven't noticed it."