"She says her people would turn her out, if they knew."
"Poor girl! No, I suppose she must manage to keep them in the dark somehow. Did she tell you how it happened?"
"She told me in confidence, but one thing I can assure you of, Virginia, she has been most outrageously treated, and taken advantage of—her very goodness and innocence have betrayed her."
Virginia waved this aside. "After all, what does that matter? The fact remains that she is in a hole and must be got out of it. What had you thought of doing for her, Rico?"
"I wanted to ask your advice—a woman knows so much more in a case like this."
What he wished to do was to enlist his wife's sympathy and interest; he knew how invaluable, and how necessary her help would be, for without her adherence, there really was not much he could do.
"Won't you tell me, Virginia, what you think should be done?"
Virginia sat up, dropping her feet down over the edge of the bed; chin in hands, elbows on knees, she reflected, her tumbled dark hair falling over her pretty ivory tinted shoulders, from which the chemise had slipped.
"The first thing, of course, is for her to leave her party before they find out, and how it is that they have suspected nothing, is beyond my comprehension! She must leave them at once.—Fru Bjork is kind, but on her daughter's account, she would throw Ragna off with no compunctions whatever—It's lucky that that old maid they had with them in Florence isn't here—she would have seen it all long ago. I'll tell you what, Rico, Ragna can say she is coming back to Florence with me, and when we go back next week—I always liked the girl and I will do that much anyhow, for her—tell her she can use my name in any way she likes, and she can count on me to help her out. In Florence, she can have it all over quietly and go home afterwards."
"I thought you would help her, Virginia, and she will appreciate it, I know. If you could have seen her utter misery!"