rk on the terrace of Saint
Desert, while the men of the house lamented the corruption of the
government and the cure ascribed the unhappy state of the country to the
decline of religious feeling and the rise in the cost of living. It was
inevitable that, in the course of time, the new Marquise should come to
understand the fundamental necessity of these things being as they were;
and meanwhile the forbearance of her husband's family exercised itself,
with the smiling discretion of their race, through the long succession
of uneventful days.

Once, in September, this routine was broken in upon by the unannounced
descent of a flock of motors bearing the Princess Estradina and a chosen
band from one watering-place to another. Raymond was away at the time,
but family loyalty constrained the old Marquise to welcome her kinswoman
and the latter's friends; and Undine once more found herself immersed in
the world from which her marriage had removed her.

The Princess, at first, seemed totally to have forgotten their former
intimacy, and Undine was made to feel that in a life so variously
agitated the episode could hardly have left a trace. But the night
before her departure the incalculable Lili, with one of her sudden
changes of humour, drew her former friend into her bedroom and plunged
into an exchange of confidences. She naturally unfolded her own history
first, and it was so packed with incident that the courtyard clock had
struck two before she turned her attention to Undine.

"My dear, you're handsomer than ever; only perhaps a shade too stout.
Domestic bliss, I suppose? Take care! You need an emotion, a drama...
You Americans are really extraordinary. You appear to live on change and
excitement; and then suddenly a man comes along and claps a ring on your
finger, and you never look through it to see what's going on outside.
Aren't you ever the least bit bored? Why do I never see anything of you
any more? I suppose it's the fault of my venerable aunt--she's never
forgiven me for having a better time than her daughters. How can I help
it if I don't look like the cure's umbrella? I daresay she owes you the
same grudge. But why do you let her coop you up here? It's a thousand
pities you haven't had a child. They'd all treat you differently if you
had."

It was the same perpetually reiterated condolence; and Undine flushed
with anger as she listened. Why indeed had she let herself be cooped up?
She could not have answered