a of my being a duchess. But it
seems to me, if you are going to buy a husband, you might as well buy
the one you like best. Don't you think so?"

"I entirely agree with you," I said, feelingly. "You would probably be
happier with the one you prefer, even if he were only a humble baron."
And I smiled at her slyly.

"Now that is just what I wanted to ask you about. But if I took Lord
Luffton, instead of the Duke, should I have to walk a long way behind
at the Coronation next year?"

"I am afraid you would," I said.

She looked puzzled and undecided.

"That is worrying me," she said. "As for the men themselves--well, we
don't think so much of them over in America as you do here. It is no
wonder Englishmen are so full of assurance, the way they are treated.
You would never find an American woman showing a man she was madly
jealous of him, like Lady Grenellen did last night. Why, we keep them
in their places across the Atlantic."

"So I have heard," I said.

"I have been accustomed to be run after all my life," she continued,
"so it does not amount to anything, a man making love to me. But he is
beautiful, isn't he?--Lord Luffton, I mean."

"Yes, though he has the reputation of great fickleness. The Duke would
probably make a better husband," I said.

I felt I owed it to Lady Tilchester to do something towards advancing
the cause.

"Oh, as for that, a man always makes a good enough husband if you
have the control of the dollars, and poppa would see to that," said
Miss Trumpet.

This seemed so true I had nothing to say.

"Now, I will tell you," she continued, examining her nails, which
shone as bright as glass. "I have got a kind of soft feeling for that
Baron, but I would like to be an English duchess. Now, which would you
take, if you were me?"

"Oh, I could not possibly advise you," I said. "You must weigh the
advantages, and your level head will be sure to choose for the best."

"The position of an English duchess is splendid, though, isn't it? An
Italian duke came over last fall, and poppa thought of him for about
a day. But there is the bother of a foreign language, and all their
silly ways to learn, so I told poppa I would have an English one or
marry an American. It does seem a pity I can't have both the Baron and
the Duke!" and she laughed with girlish mirth.

I thought of my conversation the night before, and wondered.

* * * * *

That evening the Duke, also, ma