He looked at Silvette without a particle of expression in his face.
"I would like you--both of you young ladies--and your cousin, Mr. Edgerton, to help us entertain. If we knew how to entertain successfully we wouldn't ask anybody to show us how. It is better to be plain about it. We are plain folk from a small town in the West. We know very few people; we mean to know more. I've come to this city to remain; I want to make as few mistakes as possible socially. What I wish you to do is to help me out. Will you?"
After a moment Diana asked: "Where is Adriutha Lodge?"
She glanced at the colonel, but he was staring so fixedly at her that she looked away.
"We might consider it," said Silvette, turning toward Edgerton.
"Couldn't you consider it at once?" asked Mr. Rivett. Evidently this little man with his glasses and his protuberant mustache had his own methods of accelerating business.
"You have mentioned no terms," said Edgerton.
"Oh! Am I to mention them? I expected you had your own ideas on that subject. Very well, then." And the offer he made left them silent and a little shy. It seemed too much.
"Suppose we consult in your room--if Mr. Rivett doesn't mind our withdrawing for a moment."
"Go ahead," nodded Rivett energetically; "that's exactly what I want--quick action. I like quick results."
So Silvette and Diana and Edgerton rose and entered the room in single file, closing behind them the folding doors.
"Well!" breathed Diana, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "did you ever before see a man of that kind?"
Silvette turned to Edgerton. "What do you think of him, cousin?"
"Why, I rather like that dried-up little chip," he said. "He's about the grade of citizen we expected."
"_We?_" repeated Diana meaningly; "do you expect to go with us?"
"Are you going to force me out of this perfectly good combination, Diana?"
The girl sat silent on the bed's edge regarding him, but not answering.
"There's one thing which ought to be settled now," observed Silvette; "if our cousin, Mr. Edgerton, is to remain in this firm, we've got to call him Jim, if only for appearance' sake. Otherwise people would chatter."
"Jim?" repeated Diana; "very well, it doesn't embarrass me to call him Jim--or Tom or Bill, for that matter," she added indifferently.