The next morning Miss Marsh asked her at breakfast: "Shall you go and say good-bye to Miss Vivian?"
"I don't think it's necessary, is it?" Grace said hesitatingly.
"I can easily find out for you, dear, if she can see you for a moment," Miss Delmege kindly volunteered.
The opinion of the Hostel instantly veered round to an irrevocable certainty that a farewell to Miss Vivian was not necessary.
"After all, she'd only say she was too busy to see you."
"Or say she couldn't conscientiously recommend you for clerical work, as she did to poor Plumtree when she gave in her resignation the other day."
"After Plumtree has toiled over those beastly averages for the best part of two years!"
It was evident that the temper of the staff, for one reason or another, was undergoing a very thorough reaction indeed.
Only Miss Delmege remarked firmly: "I know nothing about Plumtree's work, I'm sure, but if there's one thing Miss Vivian is, it's just. Quite impartially speaking, one can't help seeing that, and especially being, as I am, in the position of her secretary. As I always say, I get at the human side of her."
"Inhuman, I call it," muttered Tony, Miss Plumtree's chief ally.