ster upon his pet foibles, she must be able to quote
erudite passages from all the cleverest books of the day to the
brilliant politicians and diplomats and men of polished brain who made
up the society over which she wished to rule. And how was this to be
done? She thought it all out, and during her two years of living quietly
to obtain her divorce without a breath of scandal, she had hit upon and
put into practice an admirable plan.

She searched for and found a poor, very plain and highly cultivated
English gentlewoman, one who had been governess in a foreign Royal
family and was now trying to support an aged mother by giving private
lessons. Arabella Clinker was this treasure's name--Miss Arabella
Clinker, aged forty-two, and as ugly as it is possible for a thoroughly
nice woman to be.

Mrs. Cricklander made no mysteries about what she required Miss
Clinker's companionship for. She explained minutely that should any
special dinner-party or _rencontre_ with any great person be in view,
Miss Clinker must do a sort of preparatory cramming for her, as boys are
prepared for examinations.

"You must make it your business, when I give you the names of the people
I am to meet, to post me up in what they are likely to talk about. You
must read all the papers in the morning with the political speeches in
them, and then give me a quick _resume_; if it should be any diplomat or
great artist or one of those delightful Englishmen who knows everything,
then you must suggest some suitable authors to speak of that they will
like, and I have quite enough sense myself to turn the conversation off
any that I should not know about. In this way you will soon learn what I
require of you, and I shall learn a great deal and gradually can launch
out into much more difficult things."

Arabella Clinker had a sense of humor, and she adored her mother and
wished to give her a comfortable old age. Mrs. Cricklander's terms for
this unique position were according to her accustomed liberality.

"I like to give splendid prices for things, and then I expect them to be
splendidly done," she said.

Miss Clinker had promised to do her best, and their partnership had
lasted for nearly three years with the most satisfactory results to both
of them. Their only difficulty was Mrs. Cricklander's defective memory.
She _could not_ learn anything by heart, and if she were at all tired
had to keep herself tremendously in hand to make no mistakes. But the
t