a
pleasure to behold her. I'll write this very minute!"

The invitation was despatched forthwith, and such a rhapsodical
acceptance received by return of post as effectually dispelled Peggy's
fears lest her friend might have outgrown her old peculiarities.
Mellicent at twenty-one was apparently as gushingly outspoken, as
amazingly irrelevant, as in the days of short frocks and frizzled locks,
and the expectation of meeting her in four short weeks lent added zest
to Peggy's enjoyment of her new surroundings.

The headquarters of this happy party was at an hotel situated on the
hill behind Cannes, and every morning a carriage waited at the door, to
drive them to the different places of interest in the neighbourhood.
They bought curious plaques and vases at the Vallauris pottery, went
over the scent manufactory at Grasse, where mountains of rose leaves and
violets are converted into fragrant perfumes, and drove along the
exquisite Cornichi road, which winds round the hillside, and affords a
view of the Mediterranean lying below, blue as a sapphire in the summer
sunshine. In the afternoons Mrs Saville would retire to rest, tired
out by the morning's exertions, and Peggy would say plaintively:

"Father dear, could you bear the reflections that your only daughter was
pining for an ice and a box of chocolates, and that you had refused to
indulge her for the sake of a few miserable rupees!" and the colonel
invariably replying in the negative, she would array herself in her
smartest frock, and repair with him to Rumpelmeyer's, who, as every one
who has stayed in the Riviera knows full well, is at once the most
wonderful and the most extortionate confectioner who ever tempted the
appetites of men.

At every visit Peggy and her father groaned afresh at the price of the
bonbons displayed so daintily in their satin boxes; but though they
agreed that it was impossible to indulge any more in such extravagance,
they invariably succumbed to temptation, the colonel ejaculating, "It's
a poor heart that never rejoices. We shall be young only once in our
lives, Peg, so we might as well enjoy ourselves while we can," and Peggy
explaining to her scandalised mother that the expenditure was really an
economy in the end, since she would keep all the pretty cases, fill them
with jujubes, and present them as Christmas presents to deserving
friends!

At Paris Hector Darcy bade his friends farewell, and Peggy bore his
departure in philosoph