"Clarence is standing up to her," remarked Gertie.
"She gets so little contradiction," said Miss Loriner, "that it will have all the charm of novelty. I daren't do it, of course."
"You're thinking of your bread and butter."
"That's about all I should have to eat if I lost this berth."
"Wouldn't care for the job myself."
"I can't do anything else," explained Miss Loriner. "Did you say your cousin was a journalist? I wish I could do something like that. I want to write a novel, badly."
"That's probably how you would write it. Why, even Clarence is finding some trouble over the job. And he's got a brain."
"I suppose that is an advantage," admitted the other serenely. "How long have you known Mr. Douglass?"
"Her husband must get precious tired of the sound of her voice."
"He does. He goes away a good deal. The war in South Africa was a Godsend to him. Just now he is out somewhere—I forget where. How long have you—"