"It was that or get out!" said Winona doggedly, her back against the wall. "The Duchess made a scene. I'll pay it back—sure!"
"But, Winona, what am I to do? Joe's coming. I must—I have to return it to him. What can I say?" said Doré in dismay, staring at the empty drawer. "You had no right! You should have asked me. I can't—oh, you've put me in an awful hole! It wasn't right!"
"Don't! Dodo—don't!"
The girl clasped her hands, extending them in supplication, and burst into tears.
Doré could not resist the spectacle of this misery. She sprang to her side, seizing her in her arms, all her anger gone.
"Never mind! I don't care! You poor child! It isn't the money—it isn't that! I'll find some way." All at once she remembered the hundred dollars of Sassoon's bouquet. "Stupid! Why, of course!" She recounted hastily the incident to Winona, smoothing her hair.
"But, Do, you can't take it. How can you?" said Winona, becoming more calm.
"Why not? It was a present to each."
"But what can you say to Sassoon?"
"Him? Let me alone; I'll invent something—he'll never know! Bah! I shall miss a fine scene, that's all!" she added with a dramatic regret. "Well, that's over! How much did you use?"