I swallowed the
veal! Anyhow, Bobby ate to suit himself after that."

"Oh, Judy, how ridiculous you are! I wish I could have seen Mr. Kean
execute his daring feat," laughed Molly. "Mother, let's look around for
an apartment and go to housekeeping immediately. I am sorry we told
Elise O'Brien about Mrs. Pace's. I can't bear for her to be anywhere
that is not pleasant. She has had tribulations enough in her day."

Judy had not yet heard anything of their fellow passengers, as they had
been so occupied with Paris and the pension that they had had no time to
tell her of their voyage and the pleasant people they had met. She was
much interested in the fact that Miss O'Brien was to be at the art
school for the winter and said she was a girl of undoubted talent. As
for young Kinsella, he was the cleverest draughtsman at the League.

"Do you girls think you like Elise enough to have her come to live with
us for the winter?" asked Mrs. Brown. "I feel sure the poor girl would
be happy, and if you would all fit in together and be congenial, I
really think it would be an act of charity to ask her. We must consider
it from all sides before we rush into it, however."

"Mother, it would be splendid!" declared Molly. "I believe Mrs.
Huntington was dying for you to ask Elise, but of course had to wait for
you to suggest it. We could divide the expenses into four parts and I
know it would be cheaper than boarding and infinitely more agreeable."

"Mrs. Brown, I am sure we should get on like a house afire, and it does
seem as though we might take Elise in and give her a pleasant home. I
promise to be real good and get on with everybody, if I can only know I
am to leave the _Maison Pace_ in peace," promised Judy.

So it was decided by these three impulsive souls to take in Elise
O'Brien and to get a flat forthwith and leave the sheltering wing of the
dragon. Mrs. Brown thought it best to stay a fortnight in their present
quarters so they could look well about them; she also wanted to see her
old friend and cousin, the Marquise d'Ochte, for if she were anything
like the Sally Bolling of old, she felt sure she could depend on her for
some assistance in the matter of getting settled.

"Of course, she may have changed so, after being married to a French
nobleman for some twenty-eight years, that I will hesitate to ask
anything of her; but I have an idea old Sally could not change. I
remember her as being a great harum-scarum but with the