call at your cottage before I get off. I am busy settling
up some details now. Good day."

I hastened home with my good news. Bessie's eyes glistened when she
heard it, and even my mother-in-law showed a faint sign of pleasure at
my good luck.

The following Saturday evening Mr. Desmond came out to see us.

"Don't consider this my farewell appearance," he said. "I merely wished
to tell you that my friends have inveigled me into giving an informal
party Tuesday evening, at which I shall expect you all to appear."

He talked glibly, for him, and gave us an outline sketch of his proposed
tour. I thought he seemed strangely restless and nervous, and I pitied
him.

His "informal party" was really a noteworthy affair, and the wealth and
respectability of the city were well represented. Bessie could not go,
on account of the baby, so I acted as escort to Mrs. Pinkerton, who made
herself amazingly agreeable. There were not many young people present,
and the affair was quiet and genteel in the extreme. Bank presidents,
capitalists, professional men, and "solid" men, with their wives,
attired in black silks, formed the majority of the guests. They were Mr.
Desmond's personal friends. My mother-in-law was in congenial company,
and I believe she enjoyed the evening remarkably. Most of the
conversation turned, very naturally, upon European travel. Americans who
are possessed of wealth always have done "the grand tour," and they
invariably speak of "Europe" in a general way, as if it were all one
country.

"When I returned from my first tour abroad, a friend said to me that he
'supposed it was a fine country over there,'" said Mr. Desmond to me,
laughing.

Some one asked him where he had decided to go.

"I shall land at Havre, and go straight to Paris," he answered. "I
flatter myself I am a good American, and as I have been comparatively
dead since my niece left me, I am entitled to a place in that
terrestrial paradise."

I thought I had never seen Mrs. Pinkerton appear to so good advantage as
she did on this occasion. Her natural good manners and her intelligence
made her attractive in such a company, and she was the centre of a
bright group of middle-aged Brahmins throughout the entire evening. Mr.
Desmond appeared grateful for the assistance she rendered in making his
party pass off pleasantly, and as for me, I began to feel that I had
never quite appreciated her best qualities. She was a woman that one
could not whol