"Is it not wonderful ?" And her French, though pure enough, was full and round--the French of an English tongue.

"I have had a long letter from Dormer telling me all about it.

Oh--" And she broke off, silenced by the dark frown of Albert de Chantonnay, to which her attention had been forcibly directed by his mother.

"I have been dining with Madame de Rathe," she went on, irrepressibly, changing the subject in obedience to Albert de Chantonnay's frown.

"The Vicomtesse bids me make her excuses.