Milan and the
Italian Lakes, through Switzerland into France, and so to Paris.
Godmother had once spent a winter at Capri; she had spent several
winters in Florence. She knew Venice well. She had hosts of dear,
familiar things to show Mary Alice in each place.

At last they came to Paris. Godmother lamented that it was in July
they came; but Mary Alice, who had no recollections of Paris in April
and May, found nothing to lament. They stayed more than a month--and
made a number of the enchanting little journeys which can be made out
of Paris forever and ever without repeating, it seems.

Then, with a trunk in which were two "really, truly" Paris
dresses--very, very modest ones, to be sure, but unmistakably touched
with Parisian chic--and a mind in which were hundreds of wonderful
Paris memories, Mary Alice crossed to England. They went at once to
London where, it seemed to Mary Alice, she must stay forever, to be
satisfied. Godmother had hosts of charming friends in London, even
beyond what she had in Italy and France; but for the first fortnight
she gave up her time entirely to Mary Alice's sightseeing. By and by
her friends began to find out she was there and to clamour insistently
for her. And as the exodus from town was as complete as it ever gets,
most of the invitations were from the country. So that Mary Alice
began to see something of that English country-house life she had read
so much about, and to meet personages whose names filled her with
awe--until she remembered the Secret. And thus she came to the Great
Event of her life.

Godmother had what Mary Alice called "a duchess friend" of whom she was
very, very fond. The Duchess was a woman about Godmother's age, and
quite as lovely to look at as a duchess should be. She was mistress of
many and vast estates, and wore--on occasions--a coronet of diamonds
and strings of pearls "worth a king's ransom," just like a duchess in a
story. But she seemed to Mary Alice to have hardly the mildest
interest in the jewels she wore and the palaces she lived in; Mary
Alice found it hard to bear in mind that to the Duchess these were just
as matter-of-fact, as usual, as unvariable, as the home sitting-room
and the "good" hat had once been to Mary Alice. And like Mary Alice,
the Duchess found her happiness in reaching out for something new and
different. The Duchess liked the world that Godmother lived in--the
world of Godmother's lovely mind; and she loved Go