“I'll come here no more,” said Zoe, sadly but sternly, and left the room.
Then Ina turned to Miss Gale and said, patiently, “I hope I was not rude to that lady—who has broken my heart.”
Fanny and Rhoda took each a hand and told her she could not be rude to anybody.
“My friends,” said Ina, looking piteously to each in turn, “it is her house, you know, and she is very good to me now—after breaking my heart.”
Then Fanny showed a deal of tact. “Her house!” said she. “It is no more hers than mine. Why, this house belongs to a gentleman, and he is mad after music. He knows you very well, though you don't know him, and he thinks you the first singer in Europe.”
“You flatter me,” said Ina, sadly.
“Well, he thinks so; and he is reckoned a very good judge. Ah! now I think of it, I will show you something, and then you will believe me.”
She ran off to the library, snatched up Ina's picture set round with pearls, and came panting in with it. “There,” said she; “now you look at that!” and she put it before her eyes. “Now, who is that, if you please?”
“Oh! It is Ina Klosking that was. Please bring me a glass.”
The two ladies looked at each other. Miss Gale made a negative signal, and Fanny said, “By-and-by. This will do instead, for it is as like as two peas. Now ask yourself how this comes to be in the house, and set in pearls. Why, they are worth three hundred pounds. I assure you that the master of this house is fanatico per la musica; heard you sing Siebel at Homburg—raved about you—wanted to call on you. We had to drag him away from the place; and he declares you are the first singer in the world; and you cannot doubt his sincerity, for here are the pearls.”