“I think we ought to send him back,” Miss Moore replied, taking her cue.
Miss Wing turned to West, her face shining with generosity. “So run along. We’ll be generous—for once.”
For a moment West looked confused. Then he recovered himself. “I certainly do admire Mrs. Briggs, but that doesn’t keep me—” he assumed his most intense look—“from admiring others.”
Miss Wing threw back her fine shoulders. “Oh, if you’re going to pay compliments, we’ll certainly keep you. Come along, dear.”
III
The departure of the two women with West gave Mrs. McShane and Farley a chance to work rapidly for several moments. Mrs. McShane, whose years of experience had not developed speed in writing, kept glancing every now and then at Farley in admiration of his skill. He was evidently preparing a general description of the evening, which promised to be remembered, according to Mrs. McShane’s report, “as one of the most brilliant events in a Washington Winter remarkable for the brilliancy of its entertainments.” The old woman had read that phrase somewhere, and she had already used it several times, each time with a growing fear of detection by her editors. But for such sonorous phrases she would have had some difficulty in continuing her newspaper work. During one of her pauses Farley remarked, pleasantly:
“Inspiration given out, Mrs. McShane?”
“Oh, if I could only compose like you, Mr. Farley!” she replied, enviously.
Farley laughed. “I guess you’ll be all right,” he said.