agged the whole party off a train
and made them wait until the next one, because the wheels of our railway
carriage squeaked. But Jimmie's mind is open to persuasion, especially
from one whose opinions he admires as he admires Max Nordau's, for he
looked at me with more tolerance, as he said:

"It is the nervous organisation, I suppose. She can bear neuralgia for
days at a time which would drive me crazy in an hour, but I've seen her
burst into tears because a door slammed."

"Exactly so!" said Doctor Nordau. "I understand perfectly."

"Now, I never hear such noises," pursued Jimmie. "But I suppose there
must be _some_ difference between you both, who can write books, and me,
who can't even write a letter without dictating it!"

Soon after this we came away, Jimmie beaming with delight over one idol
who had not tumbled from his pedestal at a near view.

We were still in the midst of the Paris season. It was very gay and Bee
and Mrs. Jimmie had made some amiable friends among the very smartest of
the Parisian smart set. When we went to tea or dinner with these people
Jimmie and I had to be dragged along like dogs who are muzzled for the
first time. Every once in awhile _en route_ we would plant our fore feet
and try to rub our muzzles off, but the hands which held our chains were
gentle but firm, and we always ended by going.

On one Sunday we were invited to have _dejeuner_ with the Countess S.,
and as it was her last day to receive she had invited us to remain and
meet her friends. At the breakfast there were perhaps sixteen of us and
the conversation fell upon palmistry. We had just seen Cheiro in London,
and as he had amiably explained a good many of our lines to us, I was
speaking of this when the old Duchesse de Z. thrust her little wrinkled
paw loaded down with jewels across the plate of her neighbour and said:

"Mademoiselle, can you see anything in the lines of my hand?"

I make no pretence of understanding palmistry, but I saw in her hand a
queer little mark that Cheiro had explained to us from a chart. I took
her hand in mine and all the conversation ceased to hear the pearls of
wisdom which were about to drop from my lips. The duchesse was very much
interested in the occult and known to be given to table tipping and the
invocation of spirits.

"I see something here," I began, hesitatingly, "which looks to me as if
you had once been threatened with a great danger, but had been
miraculously preserved,"