of the sitting-room, and so ran round the house to the front door. A small, shabby automobile was standing in the circle, and as Pearl bounded up the steps a man came out quickly and got into it--a pale man, with long white hands and something of Durland's birdlike quality. She saw that she was too late. She went into the sitting-room.
Mrs. Conway was standing in the middle of the room, supporting one elbow in one hand and two fingers of the other resting against her chin. She looked so white that every grain of rouge seemed to stand out--away from her cheeks. She turned her eyes coldly upon Pearl.
"Well?" she said.
Pearl had not thought at all what she was going to say, and blurted out, "Oh, Mrs. Conway, I thought you might need me! I thought I could help you if--Mr. Wood said----"
Edna, rather to her own surprise, suddenly lost her temper.
"I'm tired of being considered a perfect fool," she said. "Anthony! I know what Anthony thinks--that I'm always going to give Gordon all the children's money. As a matter of fact, I know better than anyone--though it isn't always very easy to say no, no, no, to a man who has been your husband and who insists if he had five dollars he could make a fortune; but I do say it--I always have--always—almost always. It's a little too much to be watched over and lectured by you, Miss Exeter."
After which speech Mrs. Conway left the room.