ung, handsome,
brilliant girl should find anything in him to care for, middle-aged,
careworn man that he felt himself to be. On the other hand, Elise was
equally astonished that a man of Mr. Kinsella's keen intelligence and
experience could put up with a foolish, silly girl like herself. He
endeavored to make her understand what a remarkable young woman she
really was; and she tried equally hard to explain to him that his age
was one of his chief attractions in her eyes, but that his virtues were
so numerous it was hard to tell which ones made her love him so much.

At any rate, they came back to Paris with a much better opinion of
themselves than they had taken away. Mr. Kinsella looked more than ever
like a gray-haired Pierce. He said he had taken a dip in the fountain of
eternal youth and never intended to get a day older than he was. Elise's
eyes were sparkling and her cheeks all aglow. Her mother could not have
complained that she lacked animation now or that her sallow complexion
needed steaming.

When they returned to the studio in Rue Brea, they found Mrs. Brown,
Molly and Judy trying not to look expectant, but, as Judy said, "ready
to pop with curiosity." Elise ran to Mrs. Brown, and throwing her arms
around her dear chaperone, hid her blushing face on her shoulder; while
Mr. Kinsella, with boyish ingenuousness, said: "Well, what do you think?
Elise and I have gone and done it!"

Enthusiastic congratulations followed and no one asked the question:
"Done what?"

"We thought at first we would not tell for a few days, but keep our
secret; but I have been persuading Elise that there is no use in waiting
for wedding finery. She is beautiful enough in the clothes she has. And
we have determined to go to Rome, where Mrs. Huntington now is, and be
married immediately."

"That will be splendid," declared Mrs. Brown, "but we are sorry not to
have it here, so we can all be present. I hate to give up my girl, but,
of course, she must go straight to her mother."

"The only thing I don't like about it is for me, of all people, to be
the one to interrupt Elise's studies at the art school, after all my
talk about its being so important for her to get in a winter of hard,
continuous work! I am afraid Mrs. Huntington will think I am not very
consistent," laughed the happy fiance.

Molly was wondering, too, what Mrs. Huntington would think of the match.
She hoped Mr. Kinsella had told Elise of his former attachment to her