"Mrs. Manford, wait! Here are two more telegrams, and a special--" "Take care, Maisie; you'll slip and break your leg..." "Yes; but Mrs. Manford! The special is from Mrs. Swoffer. She says the committee have just discovered a new genius, and they're calling an emergency meeting for tomorrow afternoon at three, and couldn't you possibly--" "No, no, Maisie--I can't! Say I've _left_--" The waves of agitation were slow in subsiding. A glimpse, down a side street, of the Marchesa's cheap boarding-house-hotel, revived them; and so did the flash past the inscrutable "Dawnside," aloof on its height above the Hudson. But as the motor slid over the wide suburban Boulevards, and out into the budding country, with the roar and menace of the city fading harmlessly away on the horizon, Pauline's serenity gradually stole back. Nona, at her side, sat silent; and the mother was grateful for that silence. She had noticed that the girl had looked pale and drawn for the last fortnight; but that was just another proof of how much they all needed the quiet of Cedarledge. "You don't know why Jim and his father have put off starting, Nona?" "No idea, mother. Probably business of Jim's, as Powder said." "Do you know why his father wants to telephone me?" "Not a bit. Probably it's not important. I'll call up this evening." "Oh, if you would, dear! I'm really tired." There was a pause, and then Nona questioned: "Have you noticed Maisie, mother? She's pretty tired too." "Yes; poor Maisie! Preparing Cedarledge has been rather a rush for her, I'm afraid--" "It's not only that. She's just been told that her mother has a cancer." "Oh, poor child! How dreadful! She never said a word to me--" "No, she wouldn't." "But, Nona, have you told her to see Disterman _at once_? Perhaps an immediate operation ... you must call her up as soon as we arrive. Tell her, of course, that I'll bear all the expenses--" After that they both relapsed into silence. These domestic tragedies happened now and then. One would have given the world to avert them; but when one couldn't one was always ready to foot the bill... Pauline wished that she had known ... had had time to say a kindly word to poor Maisie... Perhaps she would have to give her a week off; or at least a couple of days, while she settled her mother in the hospital. At least, if Disterman advised an operation... It was dreadful, how rushed one always was. Pauline would have liked to go and see poor Mrs. Bruss herself. But there were Dexter and Lita and the baby all arriving the day after tomorrow, and only just time to put the last touches to Cedarledge before they came. And Pauline herself was desperately tired, though she had taken a "triple treatment" from Alvah Loft ($100) that very morning.