"I've got a cold." She was very haughty.
"Your nose isn't red," I insisted. "And, anyhow, you say you never have
a cold."
"I wish you would let me alone, Minnie." She turned her back to me. "I
dare say I may have a cold if I wish."
"Do you know what they are saying here?" I demanded. "Do you know that
Miss Cobb has found out in some way or other who Mr. von Inwald is?
And that the four o'clock gossip edition says your father has given his
consent and that you can go and buy a diadem or whatever you are going
to wear, right off?"
"Well," she said, in a choked voice, with her back to me, "what of it?
Didn't you and Mr. Pierce both do your best to bring it about?"
"Our what?" I couldn't believe my ears.
"You made father well. He's so p--pleasant he'll do anything except
leave this awful place!"
"Well, of all the ungrateful people--" I began, and then Mr. Pierce came
in. He had a curious way of stopping when he saw her, as if she just
took the wind out of his sails, so to speak, and then of whipping off
his hat, if anything with sails can wear a hat, and going up to her
with his heart in his eyes. He always went straight to her and stopped
suddenly about two feet away, trying to think of something ordinary to
say. Because the extraordinary thing he wanted to say was always on the
end of his tongue.
But this day he didn't light up when he saw her. He went through all
the other motions, but his mouth was set in a straight line, and when he
came close to her and looked down his eyes were hard.
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