“Well,” I heard in Leslie’s pretty, carefully used voice, “that is very strange! What do you think, Viola?”
“I don’t know, dear,” came in a higher, and a little more artificial voice, and then there was a silence.
A short, baffled kind of laugh, prefaced Leslie’s “I’m absolutely at sea! I don’t know whether to stay or not—but I—vowed I would—”
“We might get a few things,” suggested Viola.
“Yes—” (doubtfully) “but the walls—streaks and soil—I don’t know!”
Again there was a silence.
“You do as you like,” said Miss Julianna quickly and in a rather brittle way. “I have keep the rooms at order of Mees Parrish, but you do not haf to stay—”
And then she came out of the room, and down the hall toward me. “Insolent!” I heard in Leslie’s voice, and I wasn’t much impressed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
GETTING ACQUAINTED
That night, after a dinner during which Leslie and Viola looked as if they were chewing lemons, I went to call on them because I thought it was the polite thing to do. Goodness knows, I didn’t want to! I was afraid that they would purr along about the weather, and that I would have to bob my head and smirk and say, “Yes, isn’t it charmingly warm for this time of year?” and that kind of stuff which certainly bores me! But they didn’t even bother to do that! They talked across me, and, although it wasn’t comfortable, I will admit that it was instructive.