< previous page page_363 next page >

Page 363
The naiveté of the remark and the voice, expressing the kind of pleasure one obtains from receiving a totally unexpected and totally welcome gift, set Geoffrey to laughing. "What did you expect?" he asked.
"How should I know what to expect?" Joanna responded reasonably. "To be told a thing is pleasant is a far cry from experiencing it oneself. Besides, pleasant is not the right word."
"No? What would you say?" Geoffrey teased.
"I would sayNo, I will say nothing. You are already too puffed up with pride," Joanna laughed. "If I praise you, you will become overweening and unbearable."
Geoffrey at once adopted a most false, crestfallen expression. "But if you do not praise me, likely I will think I have failed in my duty as a husband and fall into a melancholy. Then"
Joanna made a swift movement, as if to box Geoffrey's ear, and he caught her hand. In the playful wrestling, the covers were completely dislodged. Geoffrey grew still suddenly.
"How beautiful you are, Joanna," he breathed.
She was looking at him also, but with more consternation than pleasure. "Oh, Geoffrey," she cried, "look how I scratched you. I am so sorry." And the word "scratched" connected with its usual companion phrase "like a cat" in her mind. "The kitten!'' she exclaimed, "Have we killed it?"
They searched the bed and then under it only to find the little creature curled comfortably in a cushioned chair. When the violent movements of the larger inhabitants had made the bed uncomfortable, the kitten had removed itself, with all the self-possession of its older relatives, to a situation less subject to earthquakes. Joanna tickled its head and then turned to stroke Geoffrey's scratches, again murmuring her contrition.
He laughed ruefully. "Had I known you were going to claw the skin from my flesh I would not have bothered

 
< previous page page_363 next page >