Page:Middle Aged Love Stories (IA middleagedlove00bacorich).djvu/20

 yet, and the red-and-yellow leaves danced heartlessly in the wind. A year ago they had gone on a nutting-party, and Clarice had raced with the children and picked up more than anybody else. Now&mdash;even to think of her brought that faint odor of salts-of-lavender and beef-tea that disheartened him so, somehow, when he sat by her bed coaxing her into sipping the stuff.

Some one was coming down the stairs. It was Peter’s step&mdash;his new one since last Friday, when they had all, it seemed, begun to walk and talk and breathe a little differently. Belden hurried across the room and caught him at the foot of the steps.

“Well, old man, how goes it?” he demanded, with a determined cheerfulness.

His brother-in-law stared at him emptily.

“It’s to-morrow,” he said, gripping the newel-post, “to-morrow afternoon. Jameson is coming&mdash;they’ll do it here.