g; "and when
I asked if I might go to see you again, said, 'No, it was such a pity
to talk English when I was here to learn French.' I am _quite_
determined to run away."

The boy announced that the bath was ready, and the old attendant,
putting her watch on the table, said--

"Be quick, mademoiselle. Only twenty minutes, you know."

Before leaving the place, Barbara managed to get a moment's speech, in
which she begged Alice not to do anything until they met again, and
meanwhile she would try hard to think of some plan to make things
easier; for the girl really looked very desperate, and Barbara had so
often acted as the confidante of her own brother and sister that she
was accustomed to playing the part of comforter.

It seemed to her that if Alice wanted to run away, she had better do it
as well as possible, for the girl was wilful enough to try to carry out
any wild plan she might conceive. Barbara thought of many things, but
they all seemed silly or impossible, and finally got no further than
making up her mind to meet Alice again at the bath-house.

The events of the afternoon, moreover, put her countrywoman out of her
head for the time being, for she found what she had been longing for
ever since she came--a riding-master.

Mademoiselle Therese had long talked of taking her across the bay to
Dinard, to visit some friends there, but hitherto no suitable occasion
had been found. The delights of a boot and shoe sale, of which
mademoiselle had received notice, reminded her of her intentions of
showing Barbara "that famous seaside resort," and after an early lunch
they set out for Dinard.

"Business first," mademoiselle said on landing; "we will hasten to the
sale, and when I have made my purchases we will stroll into the park,
and then visit my friend."

"If you don't mind I will stay outside and watch the people," Barbara
proposed, on reaching the shop and seeing the crowds inside. "I won't
stray from just near the window, so you may leave me quite safely--and
it looks so hot in there."

Her companion demurred for a moment, but finally agreed, and Barbara
with relief turned round to watch the people passing to and fro.

Dinard seemed very gay and fashionable, she thought, and there was
quite a number of English and Americans there. Surely in such a place
one might find a riding-school. There was a row of _fiacres_ quite
close to the pavement, and, seized by this new idea, she hurried up to
one of