y his knowledge of English was so slight that he did not
understand the remark. It was not without difficulty that she
prevailed upon her aunt to pass on and cease the wordy argument, which,
she pointed out, was not of much good, as neither understood the
other's language sufficiently well to answer to the point.

"We shall have all the visitors in the Museum round us soon," she
urged, with an apprehensive glance at the people who were curiously
drawing near, "and shall perhaps be turned out for making a
disturbance."

"Then I should go at once to the English ambassador," Aunt Anne said
with dignity. "But, as I have now seen his eyes and am assured he is
_not_ the man we want, we can pass on," and with a stately bow, and the
remark that if he annoyed her in future she would feel compelled to
complain, she moved away, Barbara following, crimson with mingled
amusement and vexation.

CHAPTER V.

GOOD-BYE TO PARIS.

The days in Paris flew past far too quickly for Barbara, who enjoyed
everything to the full.

As she came to know her aunt better, and got accustomed to her dry
manner and rather exact ways, she found her to be a really good
companion, not altogether lacking in humour, and having untiring energy
in sight-seeing and a keen sympathy with Barbara's delight in what was
new.

Perhaps Miss Britton, too, was gaining more pleasure from the trip than
she had expected, for up till now she had seen her niece only as one a
little sobered by responsibility and the constraint of her own
presence. Whatever the cause, it was certain that during the past
fortnight Miss Britton had felt the days of her youth nearer her than
for some time, and it was with mutual regret that they reached the last
day of their stay in Paris.

They were sitting together on the balcony, with the bees very busy in
the lilac-bush near them, and the doves murmuring to each other at the
end of the garden. Barbara was reading a guide-book on Brittany, and
Miss Britton, with her knitting in her hands, was listening to bits the
girl read aloud, and watching a little frown grow between the eyebrows.
It was curious how the frown between the dark brows reminded her of her
dead brother; and after a moment she laid down her knitting.

[Illustration: "Barbara was reading a guide book on Brittany."]

"You may think it a little unkind, Barbara," she began, "that I am not
coming with you to see what kind of place it is to which you are going,