Page:A Son at the Front (1923) Wharton.djvu/329
A SON AT THE FRONT
in another week, and then no doubt a staff-job could be obtained for him in Paris———" with Brant's pull, you know," Campton concluded, hardly aware that he had uttered the detested phrase without even a tinge of irony. But Adele was aware, as he saw by the faint pucker of her thin lips.
He shrugged her smile away indifferently. "Oh, well—hang it, yes! Everything's changed now, isn't it? After what the boy's been through I consider that we're more than justified in using Brant's pull in his favour—or anybody else's."
Miss Anthony nodded and unfolded her napkin.
"Well, then," Campton continued his argument, "as he's likely to be in Paris now till the war is over—which means some time next year, they all say—why shouldn't I take a jolly apartment somewhere for the two of us? Those pictures I did last spring brought me in a lot of money, and there's no reason———" His face lit up. "Servants, you say? Why, my poor Mariette may be back from Lille any time now. They tell me there's sure to be a big push in the spring. They're saving up for that all along the line. Ask Dastrey . . . ask. . ."
"You'd better let George go to his mother," said Miss Anthony concisely.
"Why?"
"Because it's natural—it's human. You're not always, you know," she added with another pucker.
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