woman. "Are you not anxious to know?"

Ruth, without lifting her head from the sketch she was coloring,
answered, "Yes, certainly, unless it should be something with which
Mademoiselle Melanie does not desire us to be acquainted."

"Oh, hear the little saint!" returned Victorine. "She does not care for
secrets,--no, of course not! She is only jealous that any one should
know more than herself. She would not express surprise, not she, if I
told her Mademoiselle Melanie is about to pay down ten thousand
dollars--the last payment--upon the purchase of this house, which makes
it hers."

Mademoiselle Victorine concluded with a violent shake of the brocade she
was trimming.

"But did you learn this from good authority?" asked Esther, a slender,
pale-faced girl.

"The very best. I heard Mrs. Hilson say so to some ladies whom she
brought to introduce here; and you know Mr. Hilson transacts all
business matters for Mademoiselle Melanie. Mrs. Hilson told her friends
that Mademoiselle Melanie's establishment was a perfect mint and fairly
coined money. When I heard this assertion I said to myself, 'How little
people understand that without _me_ Mademoiselle Melanie would never
have founded an establishment that was compared to a mint--never!' Yet
_she_ gets all the credit."

"But you see"--began Esther.

Victorine interrupted her.

"What a chatterbox you are, Mademoiselle Esther! You will never get on
with that work if you talk so much. Those festoons want spirit and
grace; you must recommence them, or the dress will be a failure, I warn
you! For whom is it? I have forgotten."

"It is Mrs. Gilmer's, and she expects to wear it at the grand ball to be
given by the Marchioness de Fleury."

"She will be mistaken!" said Victorine. "I know that she will not be
invited. The marchioness hates her; Mrs. Gilmer is the only rival whom
Madame de Fleury takes the trouble to detest; and it makes me indignant
to see a lady of her superlative fascinations annoyed by this little
upstart American. One must admit that Mrs. Gilmer is very pretty; her
figure scarcely needs help, and she is so vivacious, and has so much
_aplomb_, so much dash, that the notice she attracts renders her
alarmingly ambitious. Still, for her to dare to contrast herself with
the French ambassadress is intolerable presumption, and I rejoice that
she will get no invitation to the ball."

"How do you know that she will not be invited?" asked Esther.

"How do I kn