"Five sousand dollaires is my price, Madame."
Wally started to speak, but she stopped him.
"You will hear from us to-morrow," she said.
"_Ma petite marraine_, vous êtes très charmante," he sighed as he left.
"Why didn't you give him what he asked? We don't want the thing hashed up in _Chit-Chat_," objected Wally.
"You are going right now to the editor of _Chit-Chat_ and make a bargain with him. Get your lawyer, Clifford, on the 'phone and have him meet us there."
"You needn't come, Max. It may be nasty."
Mrs. Bryce went hastily out of the room, without a look at Isabelle. Miss Watts followed her.
"It may cost a pretty penny to get rid of him. Are you sure Edouard knows that he is disinherited?"
"I hope so," she said, solemnly. "Wally, it does discourage you with being patriotic, or having children or anything!"
"Wally, are you coming?" called Mrs. Bryce, sharply.
He hurried away, trying his best to cover a smile with a befitting dignity.
The negotiations between Monsieur Petard, the editor of _Chit-Chat_, and the Bryces were neither so brief nor so simple as Mrs. Bryce had supposed that they would be. She did not have to be told that, after the notoriety of the Cartel incident, the name of Isabelle Bryce was one for editors to conjure with. This wily editor, who made his living by scandal, obligingly outlined the advertising campaign he would follow, to lead up to the publication of the letters.
Anxious as Mrs. Bryce was to have the scandal suppressed, she was unwilling that Wally should pay the price which these rascals demanded. So lengthy and irritating meetings followed--discussion and bargaining. Wally insisted upon paying anything they asked, and putting a period to the affair. But Mrs. Bryce was upheld by Clifford, in the idea that they would beat them down to a much lower figure, if they persisted.
During this period Max was so furious at both Isabelle and Miss Watts that it seemed wise for them to keep out of her way. They were like two conspirators slipping in and out of the house. But the most annoying detail was the espionage of Jean Jacques Petard. They soon discovered that he lay in wait for them, near the house, and on all occasions save when he was closeted with Bryce _père et mère_, he was at the heels of Bryce _fille_.