He turned back wearily. Your friend has cooked up a reception for us, he spat out. He pointed down the hall toward the dance room. They’re sneaking in — I saw the Vernons, and Jane and Jack.

Lilian put her head out the door and saw some fancy people in the parking lot heading toward the side doors. She recognized Emmett Smith and his wife.

Then we can’t leave, she said.

Oh yes we can.

They were interrupted by a sheepish-looking Bayard Clark sidling up near the wall with Amy Clark, trying to pass by unnoticed.

You’re not supposed to be here, said Amy Clark in her raspy tones.

Neither are you, Gilbert said, and exited down the flagstone path.

Lilian stood for a moment. She went back to the Wiggins who had anxious expressions above their drinks. She picked up her bag.

Gilbert’s feeling awful, she said. I’m afraid we’ve got to go.

But you can’t! Marian cried. You don’t understand, you see … We may as well tell her now, Dickie …

We know, Lilian said. It’s awfully sweet of you, but …

Marian’s face was frozen in disbelief.

I told you it wasn’t Gilbert’s cup, said Dickie Wiggin.

I am sorry, said Lilian.

That’s quite all — that is, we understand, said Dickie Wiggin.

Marian was flabbergasted. Why does he have to ruin it for everyone else? she said.

But Lilian was already dashing away.

54 • Meeting again

54 • Meeting again

ONE PARTY Gilbert Finch could not avoid was the victory party for Cap Sedgwick in January at the Copley Plaza. The election had been close, but Cap had had the advantage of being the incumbent. The distant hint of war was felt in the ballroom, making everyone more festive in opposition, and while the talk touched upon Czechoslovakia and Hitler and the shame of the meeting in Warsaw, no one seemed to think they would actually fight again, and their concerns rested on the problems closer to home.

Sitting at a table with a sparse centerpiece of carnations and ferns, Lilian met the people Gilbert worked with. A Miss Berry wearing little wings on her jacket and an orchid corsage on her wrist gushed, Your husband is the politest man I know.

He’s a quiet one, said a man named Mr. Noonan, but right on the money. Don’t let him fool you, he knows more than the rest of us.

Lilian caught sight of Gilbert across the room, his cheeks with the beginnings of a rosy glow.

Cap Sedgwick mounted the podium to read the speech Gilbert had written. The long Yankee jaw and tilted eyes lent a sympathetic air to his face, not unlike young Abe Lincoln’s, an association not lost on his voters. He wasn’t convinced about this New Deal, Cap Sedgwick said, but he would back anything as long as it helped business.