on't know," said Lady Hester, pettishly; "but of course
she has! Those dreadful people always have! Make the visit as brief as
possible, Kate. Let it not be a pretext for anything after. Use your
eyeglass on every occasion, so that you can be short-sighted enough
never to know her again. I have seen you very supercilious at times,
child, it is precisely the manner for this interview. It was really very
wrong of your papa to write in this fashion; or your sister, or whoever
it was. Nobody thinks of anything but the post, nowadays. Pray tell them
so; say it makes me quite nervous; you see I am nervous to-day! There,
there! I don't want to fret you, child but everything has gone wrong
to-day. Midchekoff has given away his box, and I have promised mine to
the Lucchesini; and that blond flounce is much too narrow, so Celestine
tells me; but I 'm sure she has cut a piece off it to make a 'berthe'
for herself. And then the flowers are positively odious. They are
crimson, instead of cherry-color, although I told Jekyl twice over they
ought to be the very tint of Lady Melgund's nose! There, now; goodbye.
Remember all I've been saying, and don't forget that this is a 'giorno
infelice,' and everything one does will prove unlucky. I hope D'Esmonde
will not come today. I 'm really not equal to controversy this morning.
I should like to see Buccellini, however, and have a globule of the
Elysian essence. Bye-bye; do think better about the 'Madonna della
Torre,' and get rid of that odious Ricketts affair as speedily as may
be."

With these injunctions, Kate withdrew to indite her reply to Mrs.
Ricketts, appointing three o 'clock on that same afternoon for a visit,
which she assuredly looked forward to with more of curiosity than
pleasure.

CHAPTER XXXI. A CONVIVIAL EVENING

IT is not necessary that the reader should participate in Kate Dalton's
mystification regarding her father's letter, that document being simply
a piece of Ricketts strategy, and obtained to secure an admission to
the Mazzarini Palace, which, notwithstanding Lord Norwood's assurances,
still regained an impregnable fortress to all her assaults.

Foglass was then commissioned to induce Mr. Dalton to write something,
anything, to his daughter, to be transmitted under the Embassy seal,
a magnificent mode of conveyance, which was reason enough to call into
exercise those powers of penmanship which, since he had ceased to issue
promissory notes, had lain in the v