"I'm sorry you didn't let me tell you everything last week, Mrs. Jerome," she said, keeping herself well in hand. "You see, all this would have been superfluous then."
"My policy, child, is never to learn more than it's good for me to know. But perhaps I was in the wrong this time."
"I had no idea you could overhear us, Janet," said Cornelia, with as much acerbity as if she were the injured party.
Janet scorned to reply on the level of this remark.
"I came to show you a piece of news in the Matin," was all she deigned to say.
Pointing out the place, she handed Cornelia the newspaper.
"I'd like to speak to Mrs. Jerome alone for a few minutes," she said. "Would you very much mind?"
"Oh, by no means," replied Cornelia, trying hard to be superior and authoritative. "Make any arrangements you like to suit your own interests. Never mind the Maison Paulette. Don't think that I shall stand in your light."
And as she went out, unabashed, she offered the flowery remark that she had only done her poor best to follow the impulses of her heart, her sole desire having been to help both Janet and Mrs. Jerome to a mutual understanding, in the absence of which any joint project they might embark on would be only too likely to suffer shipwreck.
IV