n. Of course, when I say
the world I mean society, and when I say Christianity I mean our
interpretation of it. If only duns could be pastors, and pastors duns!
But of course you do not know what duns are; they are the guardian
angels of the creditor, the pursuing fiends of the debtor."

After that, the old lady made her disappearance under the waves of
that sea into the depths of which it is very improbable that a single
friend ever attempted to pursue her. And there she remained until the
news came that she was restored to fortune.

A week passed, two weeks; no sight or sound of her. It was during this
period that her old friends were so occupied resuscitating their old
friendships for her--when all her antique sayings and doings became
current ball-room and dinner-table gossip--that she arose from her
obscurity like Cinderella from her ashes, to be decked with every gift
that fairy minds could suggest. Those who had known her intimately
made no effort to conceal their importance. Those who did not know her
personally put forward claims of inherited friendship, and those who
did not know her traditionally or otherwise--the _nouveaux riches_
and _parvenus_, who alone feel the moneyed value of such social
connections--began making their resolutions to capture her as soon as
she came in sight of society.

The old residence was to be re-bought, and refurnished from France;
the _avant scene_ at the opera had been engaged; the old cook was to
be hired back from the club at a fabulous price; the old balls and the
old dinners were to gladden the city--so said they who seemed to know.
Nothing was to be spared, nothing stinted--at her age, with no child
or relative, and life running short for pleasure. Diamonds, laces,
velvets, champagne, Chateau Yquem--"Grand Dieu Seigneur!" the old
Creole servants exclaimed, raising their hands at the enumeration of
it.

Where the news came from nobody knew, but everything was certified
and accepted as facts, although, as between women, the grain of salt
should have been used. Impatience waxed, until nearly every day some
one would ring the bell of the old residence, to ask when the mistress
was going to move in. And such affectionate messages! And people would
not, simply could not, be satisfied with the incomprehensible answers.
And then it leaked out. The old lady was simply waiting for everything
to arrive--furniture, toilets, carriage, etc.--to make a grand
_entree_ into her old sph