Page:Stella Dallas, a novel (IA stelladallasnove00prou).pdf/70

60 Lollie! Suddenly Laurel stiffened inside the long coat. Lollie!

"I mean," she added, with the exaltation all gone out of her voice, "I mean next to—next to—" It had to be. She couldn't avoid the word—"next to my mother."

All the rest of the way back to the hotel Laurel didn't once glance up at the moon. How could she—oh, how could she have become a part of the picture on the screen, while her mother was still in the audience, out there, in the dark, looking on.