Let Francine off now and let her take my dress to my house, please!”
He rolled his eyes at his customers. “I’m short a manicurist as it is.”
“A special favor! I have to have it! I’m dining tomorrow with Minerva—”
“ I couldn’t, Miss Bailey. I…! But….”
But he was adding the bill to others in his pocket.
The street wind and the bell-jingle hit Lenore. She raised the mink collar around her cheeks. The shock of the weather changed the pitch of her thoughts. Concerning the impulse which had caused her to bribe Francine’s early way home, she said to herself wryly, First reaction: pure melodrama! Calm yourself, moron!
She calmed herself.
Twenty-five dollars, you idiot! she said to herself.
She said, winding through the crowd on Central Avenue. It would be a small price for a life, though. And she said, Who on earth would have believed Aubrey would accept the money!
She said, What on earth has gotten into me that makes me feel positively elated?