ne else is off, and when you land
you must again be heavily veiled and be too sick to speak to any one.
Once you are in Paris--"

"Yes, there's the difficulty!"

"Not so great as you think. I shall give you full directions what to
do. Once you are in Paris, you quietly disappear. It will become
known that Mrs. De Peyster has gone off on a long motor trip through
unvisited portions of Europe and will not return for the Newport
season. With Mrs. De Peyster started on this trip, you become
yourself, and you see Europe just as you please."

"Oh!" ejaculated Olivetta, drawing in a deep breath.

"But please, ma'am," put in Matilda, "why could you not go over
yourself and then slip away to some modest resort?"

"So many people know me I should be sure to be seen and recognized.
And then think of the talk! No, that would never do. I have considered
all possibilities. My plan is best."

"Of course, you're right, ma'am," agreed Matilda.

"On the way back, Olivetta, you are to preserve the same precautions
as on the way over. And to avoid any possible difficulty in getting
into the house, I shall provide you with a key to the house and one to
my sitting-room."

"But you, ma'am," objected Matilda, "in the mean time you cannot stay
cooped up all summer in this room!"

"I do not intend to," returned Mrs. De Peyster with her consummate
calm, which assured her co-conspirators that they could lean
untroubled upon her unblundering brain. "Matilda, will you now please
have William come in?"

Matilda, bewildered but obedient, stepped to the door and a
moment later followed in the most clean-shaven, the most stiffly
perpendicular, the most deferentially dignified, the most
irreproachably expressionless of men-servants. He was the ultimate
development of his kind. It seems almost a sacrilege to add that he
was past man's perfect prime, and to hint that perhaps his scanty,
unstreaked hair sought surreptitious rejuvenation in a drug-store
bottle.

"William, Matilda will acquaint you with certain alterations in my
plans," began his mistress. "I desire to add that she will remain
in the house alone during my absence; that you are to keep to your
quarters in the stable and not enter the house; and that you are to
arrange to take, at my expense, all your meals outside."

William inclined his body slightly, as if to say, "Yes, my lady."

"And in order to give the horses proper exercise, and to relieve
Matilda's monotony, I desire