ugh the Boulevards on foot. She was not
actually plain, but so affected that she did not know what to do with
herself, and made such frightful grimaces that one was afraid to look
at her. Nor could she be called stupid, for she had the inborn natural
wit of the Andalusians, and when she spoke Spanish, could give very
droll turns to her remarks. Her French was calculated to induce
toothache in her hearers, and in the unfamiliar language the wit
evaporated and left only the vulgar behind. She was the terror of her
female friends, for she considered absolute freedom of speech to be the
privilege and badge of nobility, and thought herself every inch an
aristocrat when she alluded, without the faintest regard for decency,
not only to her own numerous affairs of gallantry, but to those of her
friends to their faces. Her tactlessness had been the cause of many a
disaster, but she remained incorrigible, in spite of repeated and
severe snubbings and even bitter insults.

No sooner had she entered the room than Wilhelm received a sample of
her peculiar style. Anne announced the Countess Cuerbo. Wilhelm rose,
prepared to leave Pilar alone, but the visitor had followed on the
heels of the maid, and rustled into the red salon, exclaiming in her
strident voice and horrible Spanish accent as she embraced Pilar:

"This is your German friend, I suppose, about whom I have heard so
much. Oh, please don't go away, I am so curious to know you."

Wilhelm was dumfounded. Such calm insolence he had never yet
encountered. Pilar shot a glance of fury at the countess, to which she
did not pay the slightest attention, but examined Wilhelm insolently
through her gold eyeglasses, and went on with a vulgar laugh:

"General Varon told me about you, and described you to me. He thinks
you very nice, and I must say I think he is right."

Pilar's patience gave out.

"Madame," she said very dryly, "if Monsieur le Docteur Eynhardt feels
himself honored by your astounding familiarities that is his affair. I
do not disguise from you that I think them in very bad taste."

"Oh, my dear countess," replied the lady, in no way discomposed by this
snub, "don't be so severe upon me. I have no designs upon your friend,
and you need not be prudish with me. Surely ladies of our rank have no
need to be particular like any little grocer's wife."

That was Pilar's own creed, and before any other audience she would
smilingly have agreed with the Countess Cuerbo. Bu