“Forgive my bluntness,” she said, with a smile; “if I say that I don’t see how she can very well help it.”
Half an hour later, she knocked at Nancy’s door.
“May I come in?” she asked blithely. “All the evening, I have been talking to a most downcast young Englishman, and now I have come up to administer justice to you. The justice will be tempered with mercy; nevertheless, I think you deserve a lecture.”
“Your Englishman is an idiot,” Nancy observed dispassionately; “and I don’t deserve any lecture at all. However, go on.”
Crossing the room, the Lady turned on the electric light.
“Nancy Howard,” she said sternly; “your voice was suspicious enough; but your eyes betray you. You’ve been crying.”
“What if I have?” the girl asked defiantly.
The Lady’s quick eye caught the glitter of a gold coin on the dressing-table. Then she turned back to Nancy.
“Girls like you don’t cry for nothing,” she remarked. “May I sit down on the bed?”
Nancy nodded. Then she replied to the first remark.