ling over it till I'm about played
out trying to make sense of it, and my head aches like fury. Oh, never
mind my head! Now you've got back I don't care."

"And your French doesn't help you to translate it?"

"Yes, it does help--some. I can pick out lots of words, and here and
there a whole sentence; but what I can't get at is the spirit of the
whole, whether it's meant to be friendly or not."

"Have you tried with a dictionary? Where's the dictionary? Get it, and
we'll pick it out if it takes all night."

"Indeed, I wish I had a dictionary. Mine's French-English. I asked
Clotilde if she had an Italian-English or an Italian-French, and she
said yes, but at home. Isn't it provoking? I certainly wasn't going to
show this to her, and get her to translate it for me before I'd
consulted with you."

"Bother!" said Aurora, thoughtfully, with her eyes on the cryptic print.
Estelle sat close, examining the sheet over her shoulder. "_Elena_
means Helen, doesn't it? I guess it must, as it comes here before
Barton. They've got my old name. And there's Bewick--Bewick, and here's
Colorado. They've got the whole thing, fast enough. It's the doing of an
enemy; there can be no doubt of that."

"I know who you're thinking about."

"Charlie Hunt, of course. Scamp! Worm! Cockroach! Low down, ungrateful,
pop-eyed pig!" Nor did the reviling stop there. For the space of about
forty seconds Aurora was unpublishable.

"But how on earth did he get at it?" wondered Estelle.

"After he'd opened that letter of mine, he wrote to the amiable writer
thereof and asked for information."

"Honestly, Nell, I don't think he's had time."

"I guess he has--just time. The languishing Iona hurried for once. Well,
I don't care!" Aurora folded the paper tight and flung it from her.
"Enemies may do what they please; I've got friends. If everything comes
out as it really happened, I haven't anything to fear, except that it's
mighty unpleasant. It's only lies, and people believing them, that could
do me harm. I've got friends in Florence. Oh, not many true ones, I
don't suppose. It's paying my way that has made me popular, I'm not such
a gump as not to know that. But some true friends I've got, and their
backing will be my stay. One friend I've got--" Pride and a sudden
battle-light flashed in Aurora's eye. "One friend I've got, who if I
gave the word would kill Charlie Hunt for this, or put him in a fair way
to dying. I do believe, Hat, that Gerald Fa