g a temporary
stay in some German or Italian palace for the purposes of national
reorganization and public weal. At the present instant she was enthroned
amid cushions in a corner of the sofa, watching Olivia dispose of such
bric-a-brac as had not been too remotely packed away.

"I always say," the old lady declared, "that when an Englishman is chic
he's very chic, and your Ashley is no exception. I don't wonder you're
in love with him."

When seated the Marquise accompanied her words with little jerkings and
perkings of her fluffy head, with wavings of the hands and rollings of
the eyes--the corelatives of her dartings and dashings while on her
feet.

It was easy for Olivia to keep her back turned, while she managed to
say: "He thinks you don't like him."

Madame shrugged her shoulders. "I like him as well as I could like any
Englishman. He's very smart. You can see at a glance he's some one. From
what I'd heard of him--his standing by you and all that--I was afraid he
might be an eccentric."

"Whom did you hear it from?"

"Oh, I heard it. There's nothing wonderful in that. A thing that's been
the talk of Boston and New York, and telegraphed to the London
papers--you don't suppose I shouldn't hear of it some time. And I came
right over--just as soon as I was convinced you needed me."

Olivia looked round with misty eyes. "I shall never forget it, Aunt Vic,
dear--nor your kindness to papa. He feels it more than he can possibly
express to you--your taking what he did so--so gently."

"Ma foi! The Guions must have money. When it comes to spending they're
not morally responsible. I'm the only one among them who ever had a
business head; and even with me, if it hadn't been for my wonderful
Hamlet and Tecla--But you can see what I am at heart--throwing two
million francs into your lap as if it were a box of bonbons."

"I'm not sure that you ought, you know."

"And what about the Guion family honor and all that? Who's to take care
of it if I don't? The minute I heard what had happened I held up my head
and said, Everything may go so long as the credit of the Guion name is
saved. N'est-ce pas? We can't live in debt to the old man who advanced
your papa the money."

"He isn't an old man at all," Olivia explained, quickly.

"Ca ne fait rien. His age isn't the question. I suppose he lent the
money expecting us to pay him back at a handsome rate of interest."

"No, he didn't. That's just it. He lent it to us--out o