parlour; but she went slowly, with a kind of hesitation, as if something
had been left unsaid.

About six o'clock Arenta Van Ariens made a personal response to her
friend's message. She was all excitement and expectation. "What a
delightful surprise!" she cried. "To-day has been a day to be praised.
It has ticked itself away to wonders and astonishments. Who do you think
called on me this afternoon?"

"Tell me plainly, Arenta. I never could guess for an answer."

"No less a person than Madame Kippon. Gertrude Kippon is going to be
married! She is going to marry a French count! And madame is beside
herself with the great alliance."

"I heard my father say that Madame Kippon had 'the French disease' in a
dangerous form."

"Indeed, that is certain. She has put the Sabbath day out of her
calendar; and her daughter's marriage is to be a legal one only. I
wonder what good Dr. Kunz will say to that! As for me, I lost all
patience with madame's rigmarole of philosophies--for I am not inclined
to philosophy--and indeed I had some difficulty to keep my temper; you
know that it is occasionally quite unmanageable."

Cornelia smiled understandingly, and answered with a smile, "I hope,
however, that you did not put her to death, Arenta."

"I have, at least, buried her, as far as I am concerned. And my father
says I am not to go to the marriage; that I am not even to drink a cup