" returned Margaret. "We knew nothing of it until
the morning she started. She had probably been planning it for a long
time, though she did not take us into her confidence until the last
minute."

Lynn sat with his face turned away from his mother. "Did you, perhaps,
suspect that she was going?" the Doctor directly inquired of Lynn.

He hesitated for the barest perceptible interval before he spoke. "She
told us at the breakfast table," he answered. "Iris is replete with
surprises."

"But before that," continued the Doctor, "did you have no suspicion?"

Lynn laughed shortly. "How should I suspect?" he parried. "I know
nothing of the ways of women."

"Women," observed the Doctor, with an air of knowledge,--"women are
inscrutable. For instance, I cannot understand why Miss Iris did not
come to say 'good-bye' to me. I am her foster-father, and it would have
been natural."

"Good-byes are painful," said Margaret.

"We Germans do not say 'good-bye,' but only 'auf wiedersehen.' Perhaps
we shall see her again, perhaps not. No one knows."

"Fraeulein Fredrika does not say 'auf wiedersehen,'" put in Lynn, anxious
to turn the trend of the conversation.

"No," responded the Doctor, with a smile. "She says: 'You will come once
again, yes? It would be most kind.'"

He imitated the tone and manner so exactly that Lynn laughed, but it was
a hollow laugh, without mirth in it. "Do not misunderstand me," said the
Doctor, quickly; "it was not my intention to ridicule the Fraeulein. She
is a most estimable woman. Do you perhaps know her?" he asked of
Margaret.

"I have not that pleasure," she replied.

"She was not here when I first came," the Doctor went on, "but Herr
Kaufmann sent for her soon afterward. They are devoted to each other,
and yet so unlike. You would have laughed to see Franz at work at his
housekeeping, before she came."

A shadow crossed Margaret's face.

"I have often wondered," she said, clearing her throat, "why men are not
taught domestic tasks as well as women. It presupposes that they are
never to be without the inevitable woman, yet many of them often are. A
woman is trained to it in the smallest details, even though she has
reason to suppose that she will always have servants to do it for her.
Then why not a man?"

"A good idea, mother," remarked Lynn. "To-morrow I shall take my first
lesson in keeping house."

"You?" she said fondly; "you? Why, Lynn! Lacking the others, you'll
always have me