ream that I sat
at her feet. Or I could see the grey flicker of the pongee skirt in
the twilight distance of cathedral aisles with a chant sounding from
a chapel; and, so dreaming, I would start spasmodically, to hear the
red-coated orchestra of a cafe' blare out into "Bedelia," and awake to
the laughter and rouge and blague which that dear pongee had helped me
for a moment to forget!

To all places, Poor Jr., though never unkindly, dragged me with him,
even to make the balloon ascent at the Porte Maillot on a windy evening.
Without embarrassment I confess that I was terrified, that I clung to
the ropes with a clutch which frayed my gloves, while Poor Jr. leaned
back against the side of the basket and gazed upward at the great
swaying ball, with his hands in his pockets, humming the strange ballad
that was his favourite musical composition:

"The prettiest girl I ever saw
Was sipping cider through a straw-aw-haw!"

In that horrifying basket, scrambling for a foothold while it swung
through arcs that were gulfs, I believed that my sorrows approached a
sudden conclusion, but finding myself again upon the secure earth, I
decided to come to an understanding with the young man.

Accordingly, on the following morning, I entered his apartment and
addresses myself to Poor Jr. as severely as I could (for, truthfully,
in all his follies I had found no ugliness in his spirit--only a
good-natured and inscrutable desire of wild amusement) reminding him
of the authority his father had deputed to me, and having the
venturesomeness to hint that the son should show some respect to my
superior age.

To my consternation he replied by inquiring if I had shaved my head as
yet that morning. I could only drop in a chair, stammering to know what
he meant.

"Didn't you suppose I knew?" he asked, elevating himself slightly on his
elbow from the pillow. "Three weeks ago I left my aged parent in London
and ran over here for a day. I saw you at the Cafe' de la Paix, and even
then I knew that it was shaved, not naturally bald. When you came here I
recognized you like a shot, and that was why I was glad to accept you
as a guardian. I've enjoyed myself considerably of late, and you've been
the best part of it,--I think you are a wonderation! I wouldn't have any
other governess for the world, but you surpass the orchestra when you
beg me to respect your years! I will bet you four dollars to a lead
franc piece that you are younger than