just lovely in that dance, Clementina."

"Do you think so, Mrs. Landa?" asked the girl, gratefully. "Well, Mr.
Milray didn't seem to think that I need to have a pleated skut.
Any rate, I'm going to look over my things, and see if I can't make
something else do."

XVII.

The entertainment was to be the second night after that, and Mrs. Milray
at first took the whole affair into her own hands. She was willing to
let the others consult with her, but she made all the decisions, and she
became so prepotent that she drove Lord Lioncourt to rebellion in the
case of some theatrical people whom he wanted in the programme. He
wished her to let them feel that they were favoring rather than favored,
and she insisted that it should be quite the other way. She professed a
scruple against having theatrical people in the programme at all, which
she might not have felt if her own past had been different, and she
spoke with an abhorrence of the stage which he could by no means
tolerate in the case. She submitted with dignity when she could not help
it. Perhaps she submitted with too much dignity. Her concession verged
upon hauteur; and in her arrogant meekness she went back to another
of her young men, whom she began to post again as the companion of her
promenades.

He had rather an anxious air in the enjoyment of the honor, but the
Englishman seemed unconscious of its loss, or else he chose to ignore
it. He frankly gave his leisure to Clementina, and she thought he was
very pleasant. There was something different in his way from that of any
of the other men she had met; something very natural and simple, a way
of being easy in what he was, and not caring whether he was like others
or not; he was not ashamed of being ignorant of anything he did not
know, and she was able to instruct him on some points. He took her quite
seriously when she told him about Middlemount, and how her family came
to settle there, and then how she came to be going to Europe with
Mrs. Lander. He said Mrs. Milray had spoken about it; but he had not
understood quite how it was before; and he hoped Mrs. Lander was coming
to the entertainment.

He did not seem aware that Mrs. Milray was leaving the affair more and
more to him. He went forward with it and was as amiable with her as she
would allow. He was so amiable with everybody that he reconciled many
true Americans to his leadership, who felt that as nearly all the
passengers were Americans, the chief