"Who phoned?"
"He wouldn't leave his name. I'll get your coffee. Mam'selle left because it's almost two."
"I wish I hadn't fired Cleo. She wouldn't wear a black dress and white apron unless there was company but she wasn't fussy about an extra minute. I was going to give Mam'selle that black velvet cloche I wore only twice if she would give me a French lesson today! I hate to ask her to do anything extra because she acts as if I ought to pay her extra. I'd just as soon, but I don't like her attitude. What are you going to do today?"
"Nothing special, maybe go to the Metropolitan," Vida said tentatively, hoping Lucy would invite her to go to Simone Calvette's—that is, if she went; one never could tell with Lucy.
"That's a good idea. I'd just love to go too, but I've a date."
Vida brought Lucy's coffee and her own fourth cup. Lucy warmed her fingers on the cup and took a sip. "I like this place, don't you? Apartment hotels are best. You pay rent from month to month, or week to week, and you can move any time. I'd hate an apartment with my own furniture. When Mother comes we'll tell them to bring a studio couch for you. You'll have this room to yourself. You can have my desk and we'll put the chaise longue in the bedroom for Mother so she won't disturb you when you write."
"I've been thinking I ought to get my own place."
Lucy was shocked. "What for?" she demanded. "It's silly to pay rent somewhere else. I'd miss you. And who'd take care of you? Don't you like it here?"
"Of course I like it here, and I would miss you too. But I can't clutter up your living room with my things. I haven't even unpacked the suitcase with my notebooks, and then there are all my books." She had to detail these literal objects because Lucy never seemed to understand when she mentioned the necessity for privacy to work when she felt like it.
"I'll bet you can't take care of yourself."
"That's silly. We can talk about it later. We ought to get the place in order for your mother. Why not throw out that pile of magazines?"
"I'm saving them for her. She settles down with a box of candy and reads the continued stories from beginning to end, she doesn't like to wait from installment to installment. I'd never say this to anyone else but I wish I could find some nice man for her. She deserves a nice husband to take care of her. I worry about what would
