"Emeralds! How munificent you are!"
Rosamund laughed. "I'm afraid I'm only following the line of least resistance, Eleanor! Cissy's an angel when she's pleased. But didn't you see her more than once?"
Eleanor's pause was scarcely perceptible. "Mr. Flood asked us all to dinner at the Ritz," she said.
"How nice of him! You and Cissy—and Marshall, I suppose?"
"Of course!"
"Then you saw them together. Tell me, Eleanor, do Cissy and Marshall really care for each other, do you think?"
"Oh, my dear! Don't ask me such a question as that!"
"Why not? I've wondered sometimes whether they would marry, if there were more money between them. I'd like Cissy to be happy; but, of course, she'd have to be happy in her way!" She thought for a while, then added, "Marshall intimated that 'dear Cecilia' was setting her cap for Mr. Flood! What do you think about that?"
"I don't think anything at all, and it's bed-time," Eleanor answered, trying to rise.
But Rosamund's arm across her shoulder restrained her. "Not yet! I want a long talk. I have missed you so dreadfully, old precious!"