if the Queen of Sheba had seen her, her spirit
would have died within her twice over. And just the same dear,
whole-souled creature as ever! She never can change. She promises to
come out here before she goes to Washington."

"That will be delightful!" said Mrs. Grahame. "I shall be very glad to
see Helena again; I have always hoped that when she came back you would
see something of her again. She was the one of your schoolmates that my
heart always warmed to. How came Mrs. Desmond to be willing to leave
Paris? When she went away, she said it was for life."

"Oh, Helena would come!" said Hildegarde. "She told me about it; they
must have had a scene. She said to her mother, 'Mamma, I am an American!
I have never committed any crime, and I refuse to be exiled from my
native country any longer. If you will come with me, it will be much the
pleasantest thing; if not, I go alone.' Well, it was not the thing to
say, of course, but--"

"I am not sure about that!" said Mrs. Grahame, flushing slightly. "I am
inclined to think Helena was perfectly justified. When a woman has not
sense enough to guide her daughter, she must submit to be guided. The
idea of keeping that girl over there five years, frittering about the
continent; preposterous! My sympathy is entirely with Helena."

Mrs. Grahame sat very erect, and her eyes were very bright; then,
catching Hildegarde's eyes, full of laughter, she relaxed her muscles,
and began to laugh too.

"I am sorry, dear," she said. "I never could like Mrs. Desmond."

"I should think not!" said Hildegarde, promptly. "I should be under the
painful necessity of disowning you if you did. But you love Mrs.
Honiton, Mammina!"

"Ah, Mrs. Honiton! how could two sisters be so different? It is Margaret
Honiton who should be Helena's mother,--they are wonderfully alike."

"Yes. Helena feels that. She is lovely with her mother,--firm, but
devoted,--but Aunt Margaret is the one of the world to her. It is a
_terrible_ thing for a girl to have an incompetent mother!"

"Yes, darling, it is indeed," said Mrs. Grahame, meekly. "I feel it so
in your case. No, don't kill me, Hildegarde! my time is not yet come.
Tell me more about Rose and her husband. She is very happy, you say?"

"Happy as the day is long. I told you I did not see Doctor Flower,--the
only one I missed, really; he was in Philadelphia. But their house is as
pretty as pretty; it is evident that he furnished it,--you know what
taste he has