After the sinister proposition of the morning, and the accompanying insinuations, the Old Maid’s invitation seemed a real elucidation of her problem. The view of her entertained by Anna Anastasia and the priest was peculiar to their own dark minds. The others knew that she had come here to give all she could. But it was troublesome that their appreciation of conventions so disproportionately exceeded their realization of ethics. These people whose Atlas she had come to be, might not at all understand her living alone, as she had been thinking of doing, in a little house which she had discovered she could rent. Perhaps, after all, since she had made this her particular task, and was getting really to have quite a hold on some of the people, she had better accept the Old Maid’s stringent proffer. So with a strange feeling that this decision would be ultimately critical, she told the Old Maid that she would come.
When she returned from school at five o’clock, Calmiden stood waiting outside the closed Headquarters.
“You’re late,” he exclaimed, coming toward her. “I’ve been waiting some time.”
Julie regarded him gravely. “I’m tired,” she said. “Finding a roof for one’s head is harder than I thought it was. You know that Miss Hope has made the Calcedos put me out. I’ve been everywhere, and had the strangest things said to me—” She paused gloomily. “But I’ve succeeded at last.”
“Where are you going?” he demanded quickly.
“To Maria Tectos. She has offered to take me in. She is very powerful, and I shall be very comfortable, but—”
“What?”
“She has made stipulations. She does not approve of my seeing men alone, or walking out with them.”
“Well, you told her you wouldn’t go to her, of course.”
“I told her I would.”