cel did bring the Marquise and Adrienne on, by their urgent
request, to Awepesha. Pat, it seems, had written so much about Jack and
me, they almost felt as if they knew us! And young Marcel, already
assured that he'd nothing to fear in America, was with his father and
the ladies. (I'll tell you presently the story of old Justin Stanislaws'
death and young Marcel's connection with it: but I'd never heard it
properly myself when the Moncourt party arrived. You see Marcel didn't
come much into Peter Storm's "Secret," as he'd confessed it to me.)

There was hardly time to wonder what the Marquise and young Marcel would
be like (and Adrienne) when the visitors were announced by our
bewildered butler. If you have felt any sympathy for Larry you'll be
glad to hear that the Marquise is a Charmer from Charmerville. How Larry
ever resisted her all these years I can't think, unless he valued his
freedom beyond the lure of woman, and refrained from going to France for
fear of striking his colours. She's the Frenchiest creature you ever
saw: you know, the fascinating kind with magnolia-white skin,
languishing eyes, black hair worn over the ears, red lips, and any age
you like between twenty-eight and forty-five. Adrienne, compared to her
mother, is a mere _lump_. But she has fine eyes and a bright smile, and
Pat loves her, so she must be nice.

As for Marcel Junior, he really does look a little like Peter; a sort of
a Christmas-card resemblance to a strong type. He's really engaged to
Adrienne, it appears, and is an entirely reformed character; but I
expect that the menage will be mostly enriched by Marcel Pere--and
Peter.

I hope you are dying to know how Pat took Peter Storm's transformation
into Pietro Stanislaws. But I'm going to save that bit for the last. I
must explain to you some of the things Peter explained to me at Aunt
Mary's, and other things I've learned since, else you won't be able to
understand him as we do.

That running-away-from-school affair was characteristic, but not as
anarchic as it sounds. His father, Justin Stanislaws, was Polish in
ancestry but American by birth. He got to know Marcel Moncourt Senior
soon after Marcel's bolt from France to New York. They both married
Italian girls, who were beautiful and intimate friends. The father of
Stanislaws' love was rich, and lived in terror of the "Black Hand."
Stanislaws won her by saving the life of his father-in-law elect; and
that was the starting-point of