nceive the idea that a man, in his senses, could
have started to come to Venice from the United States with so small a
sum in his pocket as the Doctor had been able to provide. But the facts
remained the same; Garda could not travel, the Doctor was obliged to say
at last that he must go. In this emergency, Trude and Lish-er, as their
brother called them, offered to remain with Mrs. Spenser for the
present, to bring her by slow stages across Europe to England, and
thence to New York, when she should be able to travel; while Dick
Bogardus growled, "Much the best plan! much the best plan!" behind them.

The Doctor had never been able in the least to comprehend Dick, he
considered him an extraordinary person; Dick was sixty, short in
stature, gruff, and worth five millions. Dick, on his side, was sure
that the Doctor was a little out of his mind. But Lish-er and Trude
would be very kind to Garda, there could be no doubt of that; they
showed an almost tyrannical fondness for her even now--the "thwarted
maternal instinct" the Doctor in his own mind called it. And so at last
it was arranged, and the anxious guardian started on his long journey
homeward, with just enough money to carry him to Charleston (where he
could borrow of Sally), and barely a cent to spare.

Lish-er and Trude took their time, they had not been so much interested
in anything for years; they said to everybody that Garda was like their
"own child." This, of course, was a great novelty. But in reality she
was more like their doll--a very beautiful and precious one. Garda
herself remained listless and passive. But her mere presence was enough
for the two old maids; it was a sight to see them purchasing new
mourning attire for her in Paris; to such friends as they met they
announced that they were "so extremely occupied" that they hardly knew
how they should "get through." But it could not last forever, even the
buying of clothes in Paris, and at length they were forced to bring
their charge over the ocean to New York--where all the other Bogarduses
came to look at her, to see for themselves, if possible, what it could
be which had roused such abnormal enthusiasm in "Dick and the girls."

"It's amazing how that Garda Thorne always contrives to make everybody
serve her turn," was Aunt Katrina's comment, meanwhile, down in Gracias.
"Here's a whole New York family--of our best people, too--waiting upon
her slavishly, and bringing her across Europe like, like I d