I'll come. But it must be only for ten days. I've got such a lot
of work on hand!"

"Perhaps I'll ask Ferdinand to come, too. Or--"

Suddenly Mrs. Shiffney leaned forward. Her face had become eager, almost
excited.

"Shall I ask Henriette and Jacques to come with us? They don't go to New
York this year."

Max Elliot seemed to hesitate. He was an enthusiast, and apt to be
carried away by his enthusiasms, sometimes even into absurdity. But he
was a thoroughly good fellow, and had not the slightest aptitude or
taste for intrigue. Mrs. Shiffney saw his hesitation.

"I will ask them," she said, "Charmian Heath will love to know them, I'm
sure. She has such a fine taste in celebrities."

* * * * *

On a brilliant day in the first week of February _The Wanderer_ glided
into the harbor of Algiers, and, like a sentient being with a
discriminating brain, picked her way to her moorings. On board of her
were Mrs. Shiffney, Susan Fleet, Madame Sennier, Jacques Sennier, and
Max Elliot.

The composer had been very ill on the voyage. His lamentations and cries
of "_Ah, mon Dieu!_" and "_O la la la!_" had been distressing. Madame
Sennier had never left him. She had nursed him as if he were a child,
holding his poor stomach and back in the great crises of his malady,
laying him firmly on his enormous pillows when exhaustion brought a
moment of respite, feeding him with a spoon and drenching him with eau
de Cologne. She now gave him her arm to help him on deck, twining a
muffler round his meager throat.

"It's lovely, my cabbage! You must lift the head! You must regard the
jewelled Colonial crown of our beloved France!"

"_Ah, mon Dieu! O la la la!_" replied her celebrated husband.

"My little chicken, you must have courage!"

Susan Fleet had let Charmian know how she was coming, and had mentioned
Mrs. Shiffney. But she had said nothing about the Senniers, for the
simple reason that Adelaide had told her nothing about them until they
stepped into the _wagon-lit_ in Paris. Then she had remarked carelessly:

"Oh, yes, I believe they're crossing with us! Why not?"

As soon as the yacht was moored the whole party prepared to leave her.
Rooms had been engaged in advance at the Hotel St. George. And Susan
Fleet was going at once to Djenan-el-Maqui.

"Tell Charmian Heath I'll look in this afternoon with Max, Susan, about
tea-time. Don't say anything about the Senniers. They won't come, I'm
sure.