On the evening of the following day there was a tea party at Miss Cloot's—it consisted of those twelve other old maids of her acquaintance. It was more of a board meeting than an ordinary tea party, for they took their seats round a table at the head of which sat their hostess.
"Ladies!" said Miss Cloot (who really was a remarkable woman—the more I reflect upon her, the more I am impressed by this fact), "I have asked you here to-day to discuss a very important matter—very important to us. Possibly you may have seen this paragraph in the newspaper?" and she handed round the cutting which she had taken from Genevieve's paper.
The twelve old maids read it, and did not seem to see much in it. Miss Cloot's keen intuition perceived this.
"I did not expect you to. We can't all be of brilliant intellect, of course," she said. "Pray don't think I blame you for any deficiencies in that respect; we none of us can radically alter the intelligence—or want of it—which has been vouchsafed to us."
"But this is a hoax, of course, Celina?" said Miss Wheevyl. "Quite absurd and impossible!"
"THERE WAS A TEA PARTY AT MISS CLOOT'S."
"Not in the least!" replied Miss Cloot, emphatically. "Neither absurd nor impossible. That's where you show your ignorance, Jane. Pray understand, my friends, that I am not proposing that you should all rush out to that College in New York (although Heaven knows you all need its assistance); no, you will do better by remaining where you are. Now, concerning this College. I know what you are going to say—'It doesn't exist!' Very well; what I have to say is, if it doesn't exist, why——"
