"Hello! what's up?" said Snyder, taking away the tooth-mug.
Dodo could not restrain her admiration.
"You know, Snyder," she said seriously, "I am really very clever!"
But she did not particularize. She had a feeling that Snyder, who watched over her in a faithful, adoring, dog-like way, might not quite approve. She did not know quite what made her feel this, for they had not exchanged intimacies; yet she felt occasionally in Snyder's glance, when she met it unawares, a dormant uneasy apprehension.
"Now for it!" she thought, and taking up the last note, unstamped, she tore it open.
"Miss Doré Baxter, Dr.
"To Miss Evangelica Pim"Four weeks' lodging, third floor double room front at $10 per week ...............................................$40
"Kindly call to see me as to above account."
"Four—impossible!" exclaimed Doré, bolt upright, now thoroughly awake. But instantly she repressed her emotions, lest Snyder might guess the cause. She made a rapid calculation, and discovered that in fact she had to face four deficiencies instead of three. But finances never long dismayed her.
"Anyhow," she thought, "I can turn over the champagne. If only Winona raised something on the orchids! There are a dozen ways, but I must give it some attention!"
Suddenly she remembered Harrigan Blood's estimate of the cost of yesterday's luncheon, and of what she had herself turned over with her fork. She thought of what Sassoon spent so carelessly, and of what he might squander were he once awakened, really interested.... Not that there was the slightest temptation,—no—but it did amuse her to consider thus the irony of her present dilemma. Well, there certainly were funny things in life!
Snyder had silently cleared away breakfast, and seated herself with a book by the window. Now, glancing at the clock, she rose.