Mrs. Fell. [Definitely] Fifteen hundred.

Mrs. Pampinelli. [Into the telephone] Hello-hello!

Mrs. Ritter. [Rising] Maybe I’d better talk to them.

Mrs. Fell. [Suggesting with a gesture that she be quiet and resume her chair] Please, dear. [Mrs. Ritter meekly sits down again.]

Mrs. Pampinelli. [Into the telephone] Why, I’m sorry,—but Mrs. Ritter does not appear under fifteen hundred dollars per week.

Mrs. Fell. [Watching her shrewdly] Net! [Mrs. Pampinelli turns and looks at her sharply, and Nelly emphasizes what she said by inclining her head: then Mrs. Pampinelli speaks into the telephone again.]

Mrs. Pampinelli. Net.

Mrs. Fell. [To Mrs. Pampinelli] It’s a bargain at that. [She nods towards Mrs. Ritter.]

Mrs. Pampinelli. [Into telephone] Twelve-fifty?

Mrs. Fell. No compromise.