Nattie frowned, but Cyn, not unwilling to be diverted even by Miss Kling from the topic that was so annoying her, said,
"Very well. We are listening, Miss Kling."
"Miss Rogers," proceeded Miss Kling solemnly, after a preparatory sneeze, "I know all."
The emphasis on the last word was truly tremendous, and Nattie started astonished, while Cyn looked up with awakened curiosity.
"May I inquire what you mean by all?" inquired Nattie stiffly.
"Yes," repeated Miss Kling, without heeding the question. "I know ALL. I have for some time suspected that something underhanded was going on. Now I know what it is that has been so carefully concealed from me! I have long objected to your associates, Miss Rogers, but—"
"Pardon me, but that certainly does not concern you!" interrupted Cyn disdainfully.
Miss Kling looked at her and sneezed a sinister sneeze.
"It concerns me to know what kind of people I have in my house!" she replied, "and since you force me to speak out, Miss Archer, I will say that in my opinion no truly modest and proper girl would become intimate with those who pad their legs and paint their faces, and show themselves to the public"—this insinuation struck Cyn so comically that she could hardly suppress a laugh. "My suspicions, to return to what I was about to say, Miss Rogers, were first awakened by hearing that—that instrument"—Cyn and Nattie exchanged looks of intelligence—"you have here going, when I knew you were not in the room. And now, as I said, I know all! I pass over the audacity of such proceedings on my premises, but their utter immorality is too much for me to bear! Yes! I found a wire, and know where it leads! Into the room of two young men! That any young woman should so immodest as to establish telegraphic communication between her bed-room and the bed-room of two young men is beyond my comprehension!"
Cyn felt a mischievous desire to inquire how it would have struck her, had it been the bed-room of one young man? Nattie, who had flushed crimson at the first knowledge of Miss Kling's discovery, now drew herself up and replied with dignity,