But from the first Elfrida had been conscious of a kind of pride in her unshrinking acceptance of the situation.

She and Nadie had exchanged a pledge of some sort, when Mademoiselle Palicsky bethought herself of the unconfessed fact.

She gave Elfrida a narrow look, and then leaned back in her low chair and bent an imperturbable gaze upon the slender spiral of blue smoke that rose from the end of her cigarette.
"It is necessary now that you should know, petite--nobody else does, Lucien would be sure to make a fuss, but--I have a lover, and we have decided about marriage that it is ridiculous.

It is a _brave ame_.

You ought to know him; but if it makes any difference--" Elfrida reflected afterward with satisfaction that she had not even changed color, though she had found the communication electric.