t back to tea. But Karen
asked her so gravely and prettily and said so urgently that Tante wanted
especially to know her better, and asked, moreover, if Betty would let
her come to lunch with her instead of tea, so that they should have
their full time together, that Betty once more pocketed her suspicions
of a design on Madame von Marwitz's part. The suspicion was there,
however, in her pocket, and she kept her hand on it rather as if it were
a small but efficacious pistol which she carried about in case of an
emergency. Betty was one who could aim steadily and shoot straight when
occasion demanded. It was a latent antagonist who entered Mrs.
Forrester's drawing-room on that Monday afternoon, Karen, all guileless,
following after. Mrs. Forrester and the Baroness were alone and, in a
deep Chesterfield near the tea-table, Madame von Marwitz leaned an arm,
bared to the elbow, in cushions and rested a meditative head on her
hand. She half rose to greet Betty. "This is kind of you, Lady Jardine,"
she said. "I feared that I had lost my Karen for the afternoon. _Elle me
manque toujours_; she knows that." Smiling up at Karen she drew her down
beside her, studying her with eyes of fond, maternal solicitude. "My
child looks well, does she not, Mrs. Forrester? And the pretty hat! I am
glad not to see the foolish green one."

"Oh, I like the green one very much, Tante," said Karen. "But you shall
not see it again."

"I hope I'm to see it again," said Betty, turning over her pistol. "I
chose it, you know."

Madame von Marwitz turned startled eyes upon her. "Ah--but I did not
know. Did you tell me this, Karen?" the eyes of distress now turned to
Karen. "Have I forgotten? Was the green hat, the little green hat with
the wing, indeed of Lady Jardine's choosing? Have I been so very rude?"

"Betty will understand, Tante," said Karen--while Mrs. Forrester, softly
chinking among her blue Worcester teacups, kept a cogitating eye on
Betty Jardine--"that I have so many new hats now that you must easily
forget which is which."

"All I ask," said Betty, laughing over her mishap, "is that I,
sometimes, may see Karen in the green hat, for I think it charming."

"Indeed, Betty, so do I," said Karen, smiling.

"And I must be forgiven for not liking the green hat," Madame von
Marwitz returned.

Betty and Karen were supplied with tea, and after they had selected
their cakes, and a few inconsequent remarks had been exchanged, Madame
von Mar