He would
rush home from the university at night, go up to his room, and, using the
corner of his bureau for a desk, cover pages of lined tablet paper with a
detailed account of the day's adventures. When every doubtful word has to
be looked up in the dictionary, and newly acquired knowledge concerning
participles and personal pronouns duly applied, letter-writing is a
serious business. Sometimes a page was copied three times before it met
with the critical approval of the composer.
Since the passing of the acute financial crisis in the Mattel family,
Papa Claude had revived amazingly, and was once more wearing a rose in
his buttonhole and courting the Muse. He and Harold Phipps spent several
afternoons a week working on their play, which they hoped to get fully
blocked out before the latter left the service and returned to his home
in Chicago.
But, even though the sale of the farm had relieved the financial strain,
some other trouble was brewing in the family, the cause of which Quin
could not make out. The usually sunny atmosphere was disturbed by
frequent electric storms between Cass and Rose, marked by stern
disapproval on his part and fiery rebellion on hers.
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