latives you know," with a
bright smile, "and you will not mind coming to me; then at eight we
will give Gertrude and the professor a dinner. Has she not improved by
being in love? She used to be quite a beauty, I believe, but the
Grandons are all fine looking. I do admire Mr. Floyd Grandon so much."

Violet's face is in a soft glow of hazy pink, and her eyes are
luminous.

"Oh," Mrs. Latimer says, just under her breath, "you are one of the
old-fashioned girls, who is not ashamed of being in love with her
husband. Well, I don't wonder. And you must have had some rare charm to
win him against such great odds. If you knew the world well, you would
have to admit that women like madame only blossom now and then, and
are--shall we call them the century plants of the fashionable
world?"--and she smiles--"not that they have to be a hundred years old
to bloom; indeed, they seem never to grow old. I like to watch her, she
is so elegant and fascinating."

She comes up just then and crosses over to Violet, having stopped for a
little chat with Mr. Grandon in the hall. Violet is unexceptionable,
though it seems inharmonious to see such a bright young creature in
mourning; but the fashionable and the literary world will open its
doors to Mrs. Grandon, and madame has the wisdom to be first. She is
not much given to caressing ways, but she kisses Violet, and is struck
by a peculiar circumstance,--Violet does not kiss her back. She liked
this beautiful woman so very much before, and now she feels as if she
never wanted to see her. She is absolutely sorry that she has come, for
after one has partaken of hospitality the fine line is passed.

Mrs. Latimer is very curiously interested in this young wife. She has
listened to Laura's strictures and bewailing, for Laura has gone down
to madame body and soul, but when the professor said, "Mrs. Grandon is
such an excellent German scholar, Mrs. Grandon is the most charming
little wife," and when she met her at the betrothal she resolved to
know her better, and finds her a fresh, sweet, innocent girl. Probably
she did appeal strongly to Floyd Grandon's chivalrous instincts when
she saved his child's life, but she is worth loving for herself alone.

Mr. Latimer takes Violet in, and she is very glad not to fall to the
lot of some stranger. Madame and Mr. Grandon are at opposite ends of
the table. It is a perfect lunch, with good breeding and serving, that
is really a fine art. Violet _does_ enj