Louise shrugged her shoulders impatiently.
“I never should have believed it of Molly Trueheart, she was always so fiery, yet she was good-natured, too, at her best. I could wind her around my little finger by cajolery.”
“And now, Mademoiselle?”
“I can not move her. She has grown stubborn through her love for him,” Louise answered, frowning.
In a minute more she asked:
“And the husband, Florine? Has he made any more overtures toward reconciliation?”
Florine answered with what seemed almost malicious candor:
“It is only by constant strategy I keep them apart. He is dying for her; one can see that plainly.”
“He is a fool. He does not seem to know that there is another woman in the world!” exclaimed the heiress, whose clever plans for monopolizing Cecil had all failed. Molly might be lost to him through her treachery, but he never thought of Louise or any other.
Florine stayed an hour and they revolved many plans before they decided on one. Then the maid hurried home, always fearful that Cecil should catch her off guard and make his way to Molly.