As he reached the door an idea came to him, so simple that he wondered
that it had not occurred to him before. It was, perhaps, an echo of his
conversation with Steve.
He would get Ruth to come away with him to the shack in the Connecticut
woods. As he dwelt on the idea the heat of the day seemed to become
less oppressive and his heart leaped. How cool and pleasant it would be
out there! They would take Bill with them and live the simple life
again, in the country this time instead of in town. Perhaps out there,
far away from the over-crowded city, he and Ruth would be able to come
to an understanding and bridge over that ghastly gulf.
As for his work, he could do that as well in the woods as in New York.
And, anyhow, he had earned a vacation. For days Mr. Penway had been
hinting that the time had arrived for a folding of the hands.
Mr. Penway's views on New York and its record humidity were strong and
crisply expressed. His idea, he told Kirk, was that some sport with a
heart should loan him a couple of hundred bucks and let him beat it to
the seashore before he melted.
In the drawing-room Ruth was playing the piano softly, as she had done
so often at the studio. Kirk went to her and kissed her. A marked
coolness in her reception of the kiss increased the feeling of
nervousness which he had felt at the sight of her.
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