. "I think my mother
knows that. I--I don't much like talking about it. Do
you find London confusing? I was dreadfully puzzled at
first."

"I _would_ if I were alone. I'd engage a special
policeman--the policemen _are_ polite, aren't they? But
we keep the party together, you see, to economize time,
so none of us get lost. We all went down Cheapside this
morning and bought umbrellas--two and three apiece. This
is the most reasonable place for umbrellas. But isn't it
ridiculous to pay for apples by the _pound?_ And then
they're not worth eating. This room does smell of tobacco.
I suppose the gentleman in the apartment below smokes a
great deal."

"I think he does. I'm so sorry. Let me open another
window."

"Oh, don't mind _me_! I don't object to tobacco, except
on board, ship. But it must be bad to sleep in."

"Perhaps," said Elfrida sweetly. "And have you no more
news from home for me, Miss Kimpsey?"

"I don't know as I have. You've heard of the Rev. Mr.
Snider's second marriage to Mrs. Abraham Peeley, of
course. There's a great deal of feeling about it in
Sparta--the first Mrs. Snider was so popular, you know
--and it isn't a full year. People say it isn't the
_marriage_ they object to under such circumstances,
it's--all that goes before," said Miss Kimpsey, with
decorous repression, and Elfrida burst into a peal of
laughter. "Really," she sobbed, "it's too delicious. Poor
Mr. and Mrs. Snider! Do you think people woo with improper
warmth--at that age, Miss Kimpsey?"

"I don't know anything about it," Miss Kimpsey declared,
with literal truth. "I suppose such things justify
themselves somehow, especially when it's a clergyman.
And of course you know about your mother's idea of coming
over here to settle?"

"No!" said Elfrida, arrested. "She hasn't mentioned it.
Do they talk of it seriously?"

"I don't know about _seriously_. Mr. Bell doesn't seem
as if he could make up his mind. He's so fond of Sparta
you know. But Mrs. Bell is just wild to come. She thinks,
of course, of having you to live with them again; and
then she says that on their present income--you will
excuse my referring to your parents' reduced circumstances,
Miss Bell?"

"Please go on."

"Your mother considers that Mr. Bell's means would go
further in England than in America. She asked me to make
inquiries; and I must say, judging from the price of
umbrellas and woollen goods, I think they would."

Elfrida was silent for a moment, l