then he was killed there; so, after that, he seemed to count less than
ever."

The air danced exclamation points and the man on the other side spoke to
her then so that her turning to answer him gave Jack time to rally his
wits.

(A widow!)

Then she turned back and said:

"I think Bob mystified you unnecessarily. Of course I don’t flatter myself
that you’ve suffered."

"Oh, but I have," he hastened to assure her.

(A widow! A widow!)

"But it always makes a difference whether a woman is married or not."

"I should say it did," he interrupted again. "It makes all the difference
in the world."

At that she laughed outright, and someone suddenly abstracted the
distasteful clams and substituted for them a golden and glorious soup, and
music sounded forth from some invisible quartet, and—and—

(A widow! A widow! A widow!)