Horatia felt a little sorry. She realized that Maud was being humiliated by the turn the conversation had taken. But still she did want to know about Jim Langley.
“Of course I’ll want to do something. No one sits around any more with folded hands waiting to be married.”
This was a trifle better. It at least showed the callers that the work project was a freak and not a necessity. Maud decided to try to pass it off as a joke and reckon with Horatia later, but before she could speak one of her guests was inquiring:
“Really on Jim Langley’s paper, Miss Grant?”
“Why not?” asked Horatia. “He seems pleasant enough. What is the matter with him?”
“Horatia hasn’t been home except summers for four years,” said Maud shortly. “Why, he’s got a bad reputation, and was mixed up with a dreadful scandal here. He was named in the Hubbell divorce suit.”
“And he didn’t marry Mrs. Hubbell.”
“Should he?” Horatia sought instruction.
Maud rose with an air of exasperation.
“You shouldn’t go about alone to newspaper offices, Horatia,” she said. “It’s ridiculous. As for your working on The Journal, you just talk to Harvey and see what he says. Come, let’s see the garden.”