committed the unforgivable sin.
Or so he thought, leaving out of his calculations one ingredient in the
situation. She had done an unconventional thing for the sake of a
principle!

"Well," said Jimmy Wallace after a while, heading the conversation away,
as he was wont to do, from what might be an endless discussion of moral
principles, "the purpose of this council of war is to decide what we are
going to do about it. Are we going to tell Aldrich or his sister about
the dressmaker who looks so much like his wife, and let them find out
for themselves whether she is or not? Or are we going to make sure first
by going back on the stage there and having a talk with her? Or are we
just going to shut up about it--never have been to the Globe at all; or,
in my case, never to have noticed the resemblance?"

"On the chance, you mean," John inquired, "that Rodney and Frederica
never find out at all? How much does that chance amount to?"

"Well," said Jimmy, "the show's in its fourth week, and the story hasn't
got into the papers yet. So the chances are now it won't. And you're
about the only person in your crowd that makes a practise of going to
the Globe. If you haven't heard any rumors it probably means that you
two are the only ones who know, so far. People who knew her before she
was married may have recognized her, to be sure, but they aren't likely
to go around either to Aldrich or to Mrs. Whitney with the story. Of
course there's always a big margin for the unforeseeable. But even at
that, I think you might call it an even chance."

"That's what I vote for then," said John, "shut up."

"I certainly don't want to go back on the stage and talk to Rose," said
Violet, "and I simply couldn't make myself tell either Rodney or
Frederica. It would be just too ghastly! But there's another thing you
haven't thought of. Suppose they both know already. I've got an idea
they do."

This was a possibility they hadn't thought of, but the more they
canvassed it, the likelier it grew.

"He acts as if he knew," Violet said, "now I come to think of it. Oh, I
can't tell exactly why! Just the way he talks about her and--doesn't
talk about her. And then there's Harriet. She came home from Washington
and stayed three days with Frederica and then went away again. She kept
house for him while Rose was laid up, and why shouldn't she be doing it
now, except that she's perhaps spoken her mind a little too freely and
Rodney doesn't want her ar