Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/28

Rh to lay himself open once more to the charge of uncharitableness; and suddenly she exclaimed, looking about her: “I didn’t notice we had walked so far down Maplewood Avenue!”

They had turned a few minutes previously into the wide thoroughfare crowning the high ground which is covered by the residential quarter of Hanaford. Here the spacious houses, withdrawn behind shrubberies and lawns, revealed in their silhouettes every form of architectural experiment, from the symmetrical pre-Revolutionary structure, with its classic portico and clipped box-borders, to the latest outbreak in boulders and Moorish tiles.

Amherst followed his companion’s glance with surprise. “We have gone a block or two out of our way. I always forget where I am when I’m talking about anything that interests me.”

Miss Brent looked at her watch. “My friends don’t dine till seven, and I can get home in time by taking a Grove Street car,” she said.

“If you don’t mind walking a little farther you can take a Liberty Street car instead. They run oftener, and you will get home just as soon.”

She made a gesture of assent, and as they walked on he continued: “I haven’t yet explained why I am so anxious to get an unbiassed opinion of Dillon’s case.”

She looked at him in surprise. “What you’ve told [ 16 ]