"Yes, I know—you told me that at first, but you said, also, that you did not care for her opinions—that you should do as you pleased."
Geraldine could not contradict him. It was perfectly true.
She sat speechless and embarrassed, feeling like a little bird caught in the fowler's net, while he continued, smoothly:
"Don't be afraid of Miss Carroll's displeasure. It's only envy and jealousy."
Geraldine, in her resentment against Cissy, had said this to him, too, and she comprehended that he was cleverly turning her own weapons against her now. She could only sit mute and miserable, with a forced smile that was more pathetic than tears.
"'If I could leave this smile,' she said,
'And take a moan upon my mouth,
And let my tears run smooth,
It were the happier way,' she said."
Clifford Standish continued:
"The position offered you is not as good as I could wish, but I shall manage to get you a promotion soon. Our soubrette is going to leave, and you can take her place as soon as you wish."
It was strange how tenaciously Geraldine's mind clung to the dread of Harry Hawthorne's disapproval. She did not wish to go on the stage now, and was eager for a loophole to escape.
"Oh, I don't think I'd like to take a soubrette's place," she cried.