' Those
partition walls upstairs are very thin; one can almost hear a
watch ticking in the next room."
"Is your maid called Florence?"
"Her name is Florinda."
"What an extraordinary name to give a maid!"
"I did not give it to her; she arrived in my service already
christened."
"What I mean is," said Mrs. Riversedge, "that when I get maids
with unsuitable names I call them Jane; they soon get used to it."
"An excellent plan," said the aunt of Clovis coldly;
"unfortunately I have got used to being called Jane myself. It
happens to be my name."
She cut short Mrs. Riversedge's flood of apologies by abruptly
remarking:
"The question is not whether I'm to call my maid Florinda, but
whether Mr. Brope is to be permitted to call her Florrie. I am
strongly of opinion than he shall not."
"He may have been repeating the words of some song," said Mrs.
Riversedge hopefully; "there are lots of those sorts of silly
refrains with girls' names," she continued, turning to Clovis as a
possible authority on the subject. "'You mustn't call me Mary--'"
"I shouldn't think of doing so," Clovis assured her; "in the first
place, I've always understood that your name was Henrietta; and
then I hardly know you well enough to take such a liberty.
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