"Nothing very remarkable. In every town of importance they have some one
always on the lookout for a promising piece of mud." Miss Huntress eyed
Lena speculatively for a moment. "I'll tell you in confidence," she went
on, "and I trust you to keep mum about it, for the sake of the times
when I helped you--I write for it here. I don't exactly like it, but you
know I can't afford to despise dollars and cents. It's just plain
business, after all. There's a demand for that kind of thing and it
falls to my lot to supply it."
"And did you write that awful thing about Mrs. Clarke?" cried Lena,
sitting up with big blue eyes, and gazing earnestly at Miss Huntress
with, awe as an arbiter of reputations.
"Yep," replied that lady with a gulp of tea.
"Gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Percival. "I hope you'll never send them
anything about me."
"Then you'd better never do anything indiscreet," Miss Huntress laughed
maliciously. "But I don't think you would," she went on speculatively.
"You're too clever and too ambitious for that. Do you know, I've rather
come to the conclusion that it's only rather simple-hearted people who
do those things. Take that Mrs. Clarke, now. Of course her husband was a
brute, and when the other man came along she fell so much in love with
him that she didn't even think of any one else in the world except their
two selves. A woman who was incapable of whole-souled passion would have
kept an eye on the world and walked the narrow path of virtue."
"Why, you're defending her!" exclaimed Lena.
"Not in the least," said Miss Huntress grimly. "I helped to make her pay
the price."
"Oh, well," Lena said with an air of greatness, "there are some of us
who can combine the deepest love with decent behavior you know."
"Of course," answered Miss Huntress.
"Now Miss Elton is just that other kind. I believe she never thinks what
people say about her," Lena observed. "Not that she'd do anything out of
the way, you understand."
"Certainly not." Miss Huntress began to prick up her professional ears.
"She's a particular friend of yours, isn't she?"
"Intimate," said Lena. "You know they used to say that Mr. Percival--but
of course that was before he met me, and anyway there was nothing in
it."
"I know," said Miss Huntress. "I sent a line to the Chatterer once
about it."
"Did you really? Well, of course, for form's sake, she has to be as nice
as ever to me and Mr. Percival. But she has reconciled herself. It's all
Mr. Early now."
"You don't say!" ejaculated Miss Huntress with interest.
"She's regularly throwing herself at his head. Why only this afternoon I
saw her do the most unconventional thing."