Her voice drifted away into casual silence. She looked at Justine expectantly, confidently. The maid flushed uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry," she said frankly. "But that's against one of our rules, you know. I am not supposed to—"
"Not ordinarily, I understand that," Mrs. Salisbury agreed quickly. "But in an emergency—"
Again she hesitated. And Justine, with the maddening gentleness of the person prepared to carry a point at all costs, answered again:
"It's the rule. I'm sorry; but I am not supposed to."
"I should suppose that you were in my house to make yourself useful to me," Mrs. Salisbury said coldly. She used a tone of quiet dignity; but she knew that she had had the worst of the encounter. She was really a little dazed by the firmness of the rebuff.
"They make a point of our keeping to the letter of the law," Justine explained.
"Not knowing what my particular needs are, nor how I like my house to be run, is that it?" the other woman asked shrewdly.
"Well—" Justine hung upon an embarrassed assent. "But perhaps they won't be so firm about it as soon as the school is really established," she added eagerly.
"No; I think they will not!" Mrs. Salisbury agreed with a short laugh, "inasmuch as they CANNOT, if they ever hope to get any foothold at all!"