was one of those dreadfully dark dining-rooms," said Hope, seating
herself at the open window.

"Why do they make them look so like tombs?" said Kate.

"Because," said her aunt, "most Americans pass from them to the tomb,
after eating such indigestible things. There is a wish for a gentle
transition."

"Aunt Jane," said Hope, "Mrs. Meredith asks to have a little visit from
Emilia. Do you think she had better go?"

"Mrs. Meredith?" asked Aunt Jane. "Is that woman alive yet?"

"Why, auntie!" said Kate. "We were talking about her only a week ago."

"Perhaps so," conceded Aunt Jane, reluctantly. "But it seems to me she
has great length of days!"

"How very improperly you are talking, dear!" said Kate. "She is not more
than forty, and you are--"

"Fifty-four," interrupted the other.

"Then she has not seen nearly so many days as you."

"But they are such long days! That is what I must have meant. One of her
days is as long as three of mine. She is so tiresome!"

"She does not tire you very often," said Kate.

"She comes once a year," said Aunt Jane. "And then it is not to see
me. She comes out of respect to the memory of my great-aunt, with whom
Talleyrand fell in love, when he was in America, before Mrs. Meredith
was born. Yes, Emilia may as well go."

So Emilia went. To provide her with companionship, Mrs. Meredith kindly
had Blanche Ingleside to stay there also. Blanche stayed at different
houses a good deal. To do her justice, she was very good company, when
put upon her best behavior, and beyond the reach of her demure mamma.
She was always in spirits, often good-natured, and kept everything in
lively motion, you may be sure. She found it not unpleasant, in rich
houses, to escape some of those little domestic parsimonies which
the world saw not in her own; and to secure this felicity she could
sometimes lay great restraints upon herself, for as much as twenty-four
hours. She seemed a little out of place, certainly, amid the precise
proprieties of Mrs. Meredith's establishment. But Blanche and her mother
still held their place in society, and it was nothing to Mrs. Meredith
who came to her doors, but only from what other doors they came.

She would have liked to see all "the best houses" connected by secret
galleries or underground passages, of which she and a few others should
hold the keys. A guest properly presented could then go the rounds of
all unerringly, leaving his card at each, while improper ac