" Miss Hopkins spoke
with the deadly gentleness of suppressed fury. "I had no slightest
intention of reflecting upon the character of so eminent a writer,
with whose career, Miss Gaines, I am thoroughly familiar. I was
merely trying to explain that I had never met him."
"Oh, I see. Of course! I should have remembered that!"
Miss Hopkins's entire contempt for Alicia's mentality overcame any
suspicion she might have entertained. Also, she had come determined
to discover what she could about The Author, and she was not one
lightly to be put aside. She said, smiling tolerantly:
"Of course you should! But mayn't I congratulate _you_ upon knowing
him? Having him here in Hynds House almost justifies turning the old
place into a boarding-house, doesn't it?"
"The Author," Mr. Jelnik remarked gently, "has a very sensitive
soul. I shudder to think what the effect upon him would be were he
to hear himself referred to as a boarder. My dear Miss Hopkins,
never, never let him hear you designate him 'boarder'!"
"Who's talking about boarders?" asked a hearty voice, and Doctor
Richard Geddes came in like a gale of mountain air.
"Miss Hopkins.
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