"Hm!"

Gwendolyn blinked with the effort of making mental notes.

"You haven't heard the latest about him?"

"Trying to make some Club?"

Whispering--"On the edge of a _crash_."

"Who told you?"

"Oh, a little bird."

Up came both palms to cover Gwendolyn's mouth. But not to smother
mirth. A startled cry had all but escaped her. A little bird! She knew
of that bird! He had told things against _her_--true things more often
than not--to Jane and Miss Royle. And now here he was chattering about
her father!

"It's the usual story," commented Louise calmly, "with these _nouveaux
riches_."

"Sh!" A moment of stillness, as if both were listening. Then, "_Sprechen
Sie Deutsch?_"

"I--er--read it fairly well."

"_Parlez-vous Francais?_"

"_Oh, oui! Oui!_"

"_Allors._" And there followed, in undertones, a short, spirited
conversation in the Gallic.

Gwendolyn made a silent resolution to devote more time and thought to
the peevish and staccato instruction of Miss Du Bois.

The two were interrupted by a light, quick step outside. Again the hall
door opened.

"Oh, you'll pardon my having to desert you, _won't_ you?" It was
Gwendolyn's mother. "I didn't intend being so long."

Gwendolyn half-started forward, then stopped.

"Why, of course!"--with sounds of rising.

"_Cer_tainly!"

"Differences below stairs, I find, require prompt action."

"I fancy you have oceans of executive ability," declared Louise, warmly.
"That Orphans' Home affair--I hear you managed it tre_men_dously!"

"No! No!"

"Really, my dear,"--it was the other woman--"to be _quite_ frank, we
must confess that we haven't missed you! We've been enjoying our glimpse
of the nursery."

"It's simply _lovely!_" cried Louise.

"And what a perfectly sweet dressing-table!"

"Have you seen my little daughter?--Thomas!"

"Yes, Madam."

"There's a draught coming from somewhere--"

"It's the side window, Madam."

Instinctively Gwendolyn flattened herself against the wood-work at her
back.

Three or four steps brought Thomas across the floor. Then his two big
hands appeared high up on the hangings. The next moment, the hands
parted, sweeping the curtains with them.

To escape detection was impossible. A quick thought made Gwendolyn
raise a face upon which was a forced expression that bore only a faint
resemblance to a smile.

"Boo!" she said, jumping out at him.

Startled, he fell back. "Why, Miss Gwendolyn!"

"Gwendolyn?" repeated