He looked taken aback, and even hurt.
"No, no," she said, "I don't mean that, but I'm upset to-day. What with one thing and another, I hardly know what I'm saying." She caught herself up. "I'll tell you what I think would be reasonable. As you are so kind, give Dolly a hundred pounds. It will make a real difference."
"No," he said, "it's going to be a thousand."
"I'm quite sure that John would not allow Dolly to accept it."
Radmore knew that when Janet invoked John, it meant that she had made up her mind as to what must be.
He went to the door, opened it, and called out in what seemed to Janet a very imperious tone: "Betty?" And yet no glimmer of the truth came into Janet's mind.
"It's no good sending for Betty," she said sharply. "There are things that can be done, and things that can't be done."
As she uttered that very obvious remark, Betty appeared.
"Yes," she said a little breathlessly. "Yes, Godfrey, what is it? We have just started washing up—"
He took her hand and led her in front of Janet. "We have got to tell her now," he said. "We must do it for Dolly's sake; I never saw anyone looking so woe-begone as she has looked all the morning."