Her abundant , dark-brown hair , instead of being parted plainly and drawn back into a prim coil as usual , was dressed high on her head , and a creamy rose nestled amid the becoming puffs and waves . She wore black , as she usually did , but it was a lustrous black silk , simply and fashionably made , with frost-like frills of lace at her firm round throat and dainty wrists . Her cheeks were delicately flushed , and her wood-brown eyes were sparkling under her long lashes . She offered him a half-opened bud for his coat and pinned it on for him . As he looked down at her he noticed what a sweet mouth she had -- full and red , with a half child-like curve . The fact that Lawrence Eastman took Bessy Houghton to the Baileys ' party made quite a sensation at that festal scene . People nodded and winked and wondered . `` An old maid and her money , '' said Milly Fiske spitefully . Milly , as was well known , had a liking for Lawrence herself . Lawrence began to `` go with '' Bessy Houghton regularly after that . In his single-mindedness he never feared that Bessy would misjudge his motives or imagine him to be prompted by mercenary designs . He never thought of her riches himself , and it never occurred to him that she would suppose he did . He soon realized that he loved her , and he ventured to hope timidly that she loved him in return . She was always rather reserved , but the few favours that meant nothing from other girls meant a great deal from Bessy . The evenings he spent with her in her pretty sitting-room , their moonlight drives over long , satin-smooth stretches of snowy roads , and their walks home from church and prayer meeting under the winter stars , were all so many moments of supreme happiness to Lawrence . * * * * * Matters had gone thus far before Mrs. Eastman got her eyes opened . At Mrs. Tom Bailey 's quilting party an officious gossip took care to inform her that Lawrence was supposed to be crazy over Bessy Houghton , who was , of course , encouraging him simply for the sake of having someone to beau her round , and who would certainly throw him over in the end since she knew perfectly well that it was her money he was after . Mrs. Eastman was a proud woman and a determined one . She had always disliked Bessy Houghton , and she went home from the quilting resolved to put an instant stop to `` all such nonsense '' on her son 's part . `` Where is Lawrie ? ''
she asked abruptly ; XXXXX she entered the small kitchen where George Eastman was lounging by the fire .
At after amid as by in into of over under