Her husband was going to the funeral.
Lester listened dutifully, albeit a trifle absently.
Lester, as he walked down the hall, encountered Louise.
"Smart" was the word for her.
She was dressed in a beaded black silk dress, fitting close to her form, with a burst of rubies at her throat which contrasted effectively with her dark complexion and black hair.
Her eyes were black and piercing.
"Oh, there you are, Lester," she exclaimed.
"When did you get in? Be careful how you kiss me. I'm going out, and I'm all fixed, even to the powder on my nose.
Oh, you bear!"
Lester had gripped her firmly and kissed her soundly.
She pushed him away with her strong hands.
"I didn't brush much of it off," he said.
"You can always dust more on with that puff of yours."
He passed on to his own room to dress for dinner.
Dressing for dinner was a custom that had been adopted by the Kane family in the last few years.
Guests had become so common that in a way it was a necessity, and Louise, in particular, made a point of it.
To-night Robert was coming, and a Mr. and Mrs. Burnett, old friends of his father and mother, and so, of course, the meal would be a formal one.
Lester knew that his father was around somewhere, but he did not trouble to look him up now.
He was thinking of his last two days in Cleveland and wondering when he would see Jennie again.
CHAPTER XX
As Lester came down-stairs after making his toilet he found his father in the library reading.
"Hello, Lester," he said, looking up from his paper over the top of his glasses and extending his hand.
"Where do you come from?"
"Cleveland," replied his son, shaking hands heartily, and smiling.
"Robert tells me you've been to New York."
"Yes, I was there."
"How did you find my old friend Arnold?"
"Just about the same," returned Lester.
"He doesn't look any older."
"I suppose not," said Archibald Kane genially, as if the report were a compliment to his own hardy condition.
"He's been a temperate man.
A fine old gentleman."
He led the way back to the sitting-room where they chatted over business and home news until the chime of the clock in the hall warned the guests up-stairs that dinner had been served.
Lester sat down in great comfort amid the splendors of the great Louis Quinze dining-room.
He liked this homey home atmosphere—his mother and father and his sisters—the old family friends.
So he smiled and was exceedingly genial.
Louise announced that the Leverings were going to give a dance on Tuesday, and inquired whether he intended to go.
"You know I don't dance," he returned dryly.
"Why should I go?"
"Don't dance?
Won't dance, you mean.
You're getting too lazy to move.
If Robert is willing to dance occasionally I think you might."
"Robert's got it on me in lightness," Lester replied, airily.
"And politeness," retorted Louise.
"Be that as it may," said Lester.
"Don't try to stir up a fight, Louise," observed Robert, sagely.
After dinner they adjourned to the library, and Robert talked with his brother a little on business.
There were some contracts coming up for revision.
He wanted to see what suggestions Lester had to make.