ter he has
been coming to see Betty. He brought his father, the old count, to call
on Mrs. Ashton and has been sending Betty flowers and they have been
riding together and he does not even pretend not to admire her
tremendously. He makes Esther and me perfectly miserable, for you see
Germans seem so different from Americans, so sentimental and silly, I
think. Why, I overheard Lieutenant von Reuter calling Betty Brunhilde,
and instead of being bored she actually appeared pleased. Esther and I
can't understand it. Of course we realize that it is absurd to believe
that people can learn to care for each other in two weeks, yet just the
same Betty is behaving strangely. And Esther wonders if it is her duty
to speak to Richard Ashton before things go any further. Mrs. Ashton
would be no good; she is too pleased over Betty's being admired by a
member of the German nobility. She would never be able to see all the
mischief that might result from it. But then Esther and Dick Ashton are
not friends as they once were. Dick has hardly anything to do with
Esther nowadays--even leaves on an earlier train the mornings that she
has to go into Berlin for her music lessons. And yet when Esther first
came to live with Mrs. Ashton, when she was a hundred times less
attractive than she is now, why he was kinder to her than any of the
rest of us. Oh me, oh my, it is a strange world!" And down went Polly's
chin into the palm of her hand in a characteristic manner.

For a moment Margaret Adams did not reply. For perhaps a good deal
better than Polly she appreciated the disaster that might result from
the present circumstances. Betty was only nineteen and of course Polly
was right in presuming that she could hardly know her own mind. And yet
the romance and beauty of her surroundings, the good looks of the young
lieutenant with the glamour of his title and position, were sufficiently
strong influences to affect a much older person.

Yet notwithstanding Betty's beauty and charm, Miss Adams did not have
the same uneasiness that Esther and Polly suffered. For she did not
believe that Lieutenant von Reuter could marry a girl without a dower,
no matter what his personal inclination might be. And Betty had no money
and so far as any one knew no chance of receiving any amount except what
her brother and sister might some day be able to earn. The danger that
the older woman dreaded was that Betty herself might possibly
misunderstand the young foreigner