Bernard prepared for Gordon's arrival in Paris, which, according to his letter, would take place in a few days.

He was not intending to stop in England; Blanche desired to proceed immediately to the French capital, to confer with her man-milliner, after which it was probable that they would go to Italy or to the East for the winter.

"I have given her a choice of Rome or the Nile," said Gordon, "but she tells me she does n't care a fig where we go." I say that Bernard prepared to receive his friends, and I mean that he prepared morally--or even intellectually.

Materially speaking, he could simply hold himself in readiness to engage an apartment at a hotel and to go to meet them at the station.

He expected to hear from Gordon as soon as this interesting trio should reach England, but the first notification he received came from a Parisian hotel.