her way from the pew into the aisle, timing it so exactly that she reached the end of the seat just as the Hunters were passing up the aisle. She greeted them inclusively but her eyes were on Carl. He sought to avoid her but as his parents passed on he was left standing face to face with Mimi. She smiled easily, he somewhat embarrassedly.
“I haven’t seen you lately—that is, only at a distance,” she said. “I saw you enter Wright’s grocery rather hastily one day, though,” she added maliciously.
Carl flushed and seemed anxious to escape.
“Why should you see me?” he demanded, half angrily. “You practically told me to stay away from you just because of some silly old fools gossiping—”
“You know that isn’t the truth,” she corrected him. “But I didn’t mean for you to avoid me as though I had some sort of contagious disease.”