To this Eleanor replied, "I have your letter. I must think." Rosamund tried to be satisfied with that for a while; but as the days passed and Eleanor wrote nothing more, and as Cecilia must be persuaded and her trustees interviewed, she sent her sister a night letter, begging her to join her in New York immediately. She told Ogilvie and the others that she was going to buy furniture for the house, which was true enough.
There was that in the interview with the lawyers that put Cecilia into a most complaisant state of mind; when she thought of Rosamund's having put the greater part of the Randall income at her disposal she could not find it in her heart to show disapproval of anything else that Rosamund might choose to do. The only protest she made was at the gift to the little waif.
"Pure Quixotism, my dear, never gains you a thing. It is the most utter madness I ever heard of."
"Well, it will gain Timmy something, and Eleanor something; and you know very well, Cecilia, that I shall never miss it."
"We won't discuss it," Cecilia said, "but I am sure that not even Colonel Randall would have done anything so wildly impulsive."
Rosamund could find very little to say to that; she knew well enough that nothing but her faith in Eleanor could make it seem anything but a hazardous experiment. Mother Cary had seen nothing but good in the plan, but here in New York idealism seemed out of place; what had appeared fine there looked foolish here. She was beginning to doubt the excellence of her plan, when word came from Eleanor that Mrs. Hetherbee was back in town. Rosamund called at once, presenting Cecilia's cards with her own, as the first move in the little social campaign that she foresaw. Eleanor, in her white gown, looked strangely out of place in Mrs. Hetherbee's florid apartment that overlooked the Hudson, and had every splendor known to apartments, even to an up-and-down-stairs of its own.
Eleanor kissed her, then held her off for a long look.
"Rose, Rose! How can you tempt me so?" she cried. "It is only a scheme for giving the money to me!"
"Eleanor, tell me the truth. Did you and Tim fall in love with each other at first sight, or not?"
"Ah! Little Tim!"