neral Westley?"

"Yes."

"We met them in Rome," said Mrs. Maybough. "I shall be very happy,
indeed, for my daughter. But you know Miss Saunders--is not staying
with us?"

"Miss Saunders will be very happy for herself," said Charmian.

The men took their leave, and Charmian seized the first moment to
breathe in Cornelia's ear: "Oh, what luck! I didn't suppose he _would_
do it, when I got Mr. Plaisdell to hint about that Manet. And it's all
for you. Now come into my room and tell me everything about it. You
have got to stay for dinner."

"No, no; I can't," Cornelia gasped. "And I'm not going to his studio.
He asked me because he had to."

"I should think he did _have_ to. He talked to you as if there was no
one else here. How _did_ you meet him before? _When_ did you?" She
could not wait for Cornelia to say, but broke out with fresh
astonishment. "Why, Walter Ludlow! Do you know who Walter _Ludlow_ is?
He's one of the greatest painters in New York. He's the greatest!"

"Who is Mr. Wetmore?" Cornelia asked evasively.

"Don't name him in the same century! He's grand, too! Does those little
Meissonier things. He's going to paint mamma. She's one of his types.
He must have brought Mr. Ludlow to see me. But he didn't. He saw nobody
but you! Oh Cornelia!" She caught Cornelia in her arms.

"Don't be a goose!" said Cornelia, struggling to get away.

"Will you tell me all about it, then?"

"Yes. But it isn't anything."

At the end of the story Charmian sighed, "How romantic! Of course, he's
simply in a frenzy till he sees you again. I don't believe he can live
through the week."

"He'll have to live through several," said Cornelia; "You can excuse me
when you go. He's very conceited, and he talks to you as if he were a
thousand years old. I think Mr. Plaisdell is a great deal nicer. He
doesn't treat you as if you were--I don't know what!"

XX.

The next day Cornelia found herself the object of rumors that filled
the Synthesis. She knew that they all came from Charmian, and that she
could not hope to overtake them with denial. The ridiculous romances
multiplied themselves, and those who did not understand that Cornelia
and Ludlow had grown up together in the same place, or were first
cousins, had been encouraged to believe that they were old lovers, who
had quarrelled, and never spoken till they happened to meet at Mrs.
Maybough's. Ludlow was noted for a certain reticence and austerity with
women, which