Dubois is to have conspicuous credit."

"Very well, ma'am."

"And send all of them away."

"I'll do what I can, ma'am." And Matilda went out.

"What time does the Plutonia sail?" inquired Olivetta, with the haste
of one who is trying to get off of very thin ice.

"At one to-night. Matilda will get me a bit of dinner and I shall go
aboard right after it."

"How many times does this make that you've been over?"

"I do not know," Mrs. De Peyster answered carelessly. "Thirty or
forty, I dare say."

Olivetta's face was wistful with unenvious envy. "Oh, what a
pleasure!"

"Going to Europe, Olivetta, is hardly a pleasure," corrected Mrs. De
Peyster. "It is a duty one owes one's social position."

"Yes, I know that's true with you, Cousin Caroline. But with me--what
a joy! When you took me over with you that summer, we only did the
watering-places. But now"--a note of ecstatic desire came into
her voice, and she clasped her hands--"but now, to see Paris!--the
Louvre!--the Luxembourg! It's the dream of my life!"