Nellie Pennington kissed her.
“So do I, Jane. I always have—and in you. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you have told me all this. Flattered, too, child. I’m rather worldly wise, perhaps, even more so than your mother——”
“I haven’t told mother,” Jane put in with sudden demureness.
“Take my advice and do so immediately. Omit nothing. Your mother must put a stop to this story by telling the truth.”
“Mother, you know, had hoped that I would marry Coleman Van Duyn. She doesn’t approve of Phil, and father—” Jane paused as she remembered her father’s estimate of Phil Gallatin—“and neither does my father,” she finished thoughtfully.
“Oh, it will work out some way; such things do. But tell them at once.”
“I think I had already decided that. But it isn’t going to be easy. With me—with mother, my father is the soul of kindness, but with men——” She paused.
“Phil must take his chance.”
“Yes, but father must respect him.”
“Phil must earn his respect.”