Who
is Elsie, by the way?"
"One of the housemaids. Shall I send her to you, sir?"
"Please."
Elsie was not sorry to get the message. It interrupted a few
remarks from Mrs. Stevens about Elsie's conduct that afternoon
which were (Elsie thought) much better interrupted. In Mrs.
Stevens' opinion any crime committed that afternoon in the office
was as nothing to the double crime committed by the unhappy
Elsie.
For Elsie realized too late that she would have done better to
have said nothing about her presence in the hall that afternoon.
She was bad at concealing the truth and Mrs. Stevens was good at
discovering it. Elsie knew perfectly well that she had no
business to come down the front stairs, and it was no excuse to
say that she happened to come out of Miss Norris' room just at
the head of the stairs, and didn't think it would matter, as
there was nobody in the hall, and what was she doing anyhow in
Miss Norris' room at that time? Returning a magazine? Lent by
Miss Norris, might she ask? Well, not exactly lent. Really,
Elsie!--and this in a respectable house! In vain for poor Elsie
to plead that a story by her favourite author was advertised on
the cover, with a picture of the villain falling over the cliff.
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