putterings 324 < 325 > 326 index
no searching of the dictionary; seven, she murmured, seven.
Having already eaten heartily, Gwendolyn had little appetite. Furthermore, again she was turning over and over the direful statements made concerning her parents. She employed the dinner-hour in formulating a plan that was simple but daring — one that would bring quick enlightenment concerning the things that worried. Miss Royle was still indisposed. Jane was locked in her own room, from which issued an occasional low bellow. When Thomas, too, was out of the way — [118] gone pantry-ward with tray held aloft — she would carry it out. It called for no great amount of time: no search of the dictionary. She would close all doors softly; then fly to the telephone — and call up her father.
There were times when Thomas — as well as the two others — seemed to possess the power of divination. And during the whole of the dinner his manner showed distinct apprehension. The meal concluded, even to the use of the finger-bowl, he hung about, puttering with the table, picking up crumbs and pins, dusting this article and that with a napkin, — all the while working his lips with silent speech, and drawing down and lifting his black eye-brows menacingly.
Meanwhile, Gwendolyn fretted. But found some small diversion in standing [110] before the pier glass, at which, between the shining rows of her teeth, she thrust out a tip of scarlet. She was thinking about the discussion anent tongues held by her mother and the two visitors.
“Seven,” she murmured, and viewed the greater part of her own tongue thoughtfully; “seven.”
—
ex Eleanor Gates. Poor Little Rich Girl (Grosset & Dunlap; presumably reprint; copyright 1912) : 118 :
link
(New York: Duffield & Company, 1913), with four illustrations — U California copy, via hathitrust : link
This is not the play —
The Poor Little Rich Girl, A Play of Fact and Fancy in Three Acts (1916) : link —
nor the several later films (involving Mary Pickford, Shirley Temple, even Andy Warhol) —
see wikipedia and its disambiguation page.
Eleanor Gates (1874-1951)
wikipedia : link
her Online Books page : link