hat man again, or else she finds some new friends; and the
sooner the better.

[The parlormaid appears at the door. Ann hastily resumes her seat, and
looks as unconcerned as possible. Octavius instinctively imitates her].

THE MAID. The cab is at the door, ma'am.

MISS RAMSDEN. What cab?

THE MAID. For Miss Robinson.

MISS RAMSDEN. Oh! [Recovering herself] All right. [The maid withdraws].
She has sent for a cab.

TANNER. I wanted to send for that cab half an hour ago.

MISS RAMSDEN. I am glad she understands the position she has placed
herself in.

RAMSDEN. I don't like her going away in this fashion, Susan. We had
better not do anything harsh.

OCTAVIUS. No: thank you again and again; but Miss Ramsden is quite
right. Violet cannot expect to stay.

ANN. Hadn't you better go with her, Tavy?

OCTAVIUS. She won't have me.

MISS RAMSDEN. Of course she won't. She's going straight to that man.

TANNER. As a natural result of her virtuous reception here.

RAMSDEN. [much troubled] There, Susan! You hear! and there's some truth
in it. I wish you could reconcile it with your principles to be a little
patient with this poor girl. She's very young; and there's a time for
everything.

MISS RAMSDEN. Oh, she will get all the sympathy she wants from the men.
I'm surprised at you, Roebuck.

TANNER. So am I, Ramsden, most favorably.

Violet appears at the door. She is as impenitent and self-assured a
young lady as one would desire to see among the best behaved of her sex.
Her small head and tiny resolute mouth and chin; her haughty crispness
of speech and trimness of carriage; the ruthless elegance of her
equipment, which includes a very smart hat with a dead bird in it, mark
a personality which is as formidable as it is exquisitely pretty. She is
not a siren, like Ann: admiration comes to her without any compulsion
or even interest on her part; besides, there is some fun in Ann, but in
this woman none, perhaps no mercy either: if anything restrains her, it
is intelligence and pride, not compassion. Her voice might be the
voice of a schoolmistress addressing a class of girls who had disgraced
themselves, as she proceeds with complete composure and some disgust to
say what she has come to say.

VIOLET. I have only looked in to tell Miss Ramsden that she will find
her birthday present to me, the filagree bracelet, in the housekeeper's
room.

TANNER. Do come in, Violet, and talk to us sensibly.

VIOLET. Thank you: