his early trip?"

"No, but Parker told Mr. Dawson he stopped at the telegraph office."

"Where is the Prince now?"

"He is in the morning-room, writing."

"Thank you, Mrs. Stetson."

As the housekeeper left, Mrs. Wellington pressed another button,
summoning the superintendent.

"Mr. Dawson," she said, "you received my wire last night that the
_Mayfair_ had broken down and that we were taking the midnight train
from New York?"

"Yes, Mrs. Wellington."

"And you thought the Prince was going to meet us with that car? That
was the reason for your failure to follow my instructions?"

"Yes, madame, thank you. I supposed Prince Koltsoff knew you were
coming and that he had ordered the car to meet you. When this proved
wrong I sent Rimini. I am glad he was not late."

"He was late. He met us, packed in a miserable hack. Hereafter I must
insist upon strict compliance with my wishes. Do not assume things,
please. Am I quite clear? Thank you." Mrs. Wellington turned from
him and pressed still another button. In a moment the tutor of her two
sons, Ronald, sixteen years old, and Royal, twelve, stood before her.
He was a Frenchman, whose facial expression did not indicate that his
duties had fallen in the pleasantest of places.

"Good-morning, M. Dumois. Where are my sons?" She spoke in French.

"They attended a party at Bailey's Beach and remained the night with
Master Van Antwerp."

"How have they been?"

"Very well, thank you, except--"

"Except?"

"I found Master Ronald smoking a cigarette in the smoking-room
yesterday."

Mrs. Wellington dashed a note on her pad.

"Thank you," she said in her soft tone of dismissal.

"Lest Miss Wellington forget, you might, on your way, remind her, in my
name, not to meet Prince Koltsoff until I receive him at luncheon."

She turned to the mass of correspondence on her desk and selected for
first reading a long telegram from her husband, who, when he sent it,
was speeding eastward through the Middle West in his special car. She
laid it down with a faraway smile in her eyes. She loved and admired
her big husband, who did things, knocked men's heads together, juggled
railroads and steamships in either hand. And this love and admiration,
in whatever she had done or wherever placed, had always been as twin
flaming angels guarding her with naked swords.

Presently she turned to her secretary and dictated a statement
concerning the arrival of Prince Koltsoff,