Tired of contemplating the armor Janet stepped over to the inlaid teakwood desk, and seating herself before it, idly opened one of the numerous magazines which her mother had left there. Suddenly her attention was arrested by a photograph of Tom Nichols, and she turned eagerly to the printed page, to find that the article was descriptive of Fort Myer and other army posts. She took a second look at Tom’s picture. It was a good likeness. Janet’s eyes grew very tender, and impulsively she stooped and kissed the picture. She jerked herself erect as the hall door opened, and a hot blush dyed her cheeks, but the question on her lips remained unspoken. Marjorie Langdon was confronting her.
Shutting the door softly behind her, Marjorie advanced into the room and quietly seated herself opposite Janet. The contrast between the two girls was noticeable in the extreme. Janet made a dainty picture of fresh young beauty in her perfectly fitting, expensive low-neck evening dress, while Marjorie, her white crêpe de chine waist and walking skirt covered by a heavy driving coat and minus her hat, looked spent and weary. She had aged in the last few tortured hours, and the hands she rested on the flat-top desk were trembling from fatigue and nervousness.
“You?” Janet’s agitation was perceptible in her voice and manner. “What—what do you want? What are you doing here?”
“I came, Janet, hoping that you had thought better of your extraordinary behavior to me this morning,” answered Marjorie looking quietly at her, but Janet did not flinch before her direct gaze.
“Don’t make things harder for me, Marjorie,” she said sadly. “I was—we all were—very fond of you; why did you abuse our trust? Mother would gladly have helped you out of any pressing money difficulties.”
Marjorie’s incredulous stare deepened suddenly into horror.
“Janet! Janet!” she gasped. “Does your moral obliquity blind you to all sense of honor?”
Janet stiffened and her manner hardened. “You forget yourself.”
Marjorie’s hardly tried self-control snapped, and leaning back in her chair she gave way to wild laughter which ended in sobs. Janet regarded her in increasing alarm.
“Go! Go at once!” she ordered.