spleased.

Neither was the fiancee displeased. I did not attribute her pleasure to
the power of my manly charms; but the young lady is the sort of young
lady to be complimented by almost any marked attention from any man,
especially when other girls, prettier than herself, are present.

I continued to absorb myself in Freule Menela.

She has, I soon discovered, a veneering of intelligence, and a
smattering of information on a number of subjects useful in a
drawing-room. We talked about Dutch art, and French art, and so many
facts was the maiden able to launch at my head, that the lovely
pink-and-white twins gazed at their future sister-in-law with ingenuous
admiration.

Evidently she had gleaned from Robert all he had to tell about me, as
well as about the other members of the party, for she is not the sort of
girl to lay herself out for strangers unless she considers them worth
while.

Apparently she did consider me worth while; and during dinner she had
hardly a word for the Viking, who sat on her other side; but that was
all the better for him, because it gave him a chance to talk across the
table to Phyllis, and to look at her when he was sitting dumb.

"There's going to be an illumination this evening," said Brederode. "You
know the parks and gardens you admired so much last night, as we came
through the canal into Utrecht? Well, there will be colored lights
there; and a walk along the towing-path would be rather nice, if any one
feels inclined for it."

"Oh, do let's go!" exclaimed Phyllis; and the twins echoed her
enthusiastically.

That was enough for Brederode, though neither Nell nor the L.C.P.
replied; and I asked myself by whose side he was planning to walk. Had
he proposed the excursion with an eye to monopolizing the English or the
American Angel?

I stifled the pang which I could not help feeling at the thought that he
should have either, and in a low voice asked Freule Menela van der Windt
if I might be her cavalier, in order to continue our very interesting
argument? I had already forgotten what the last one was about; but that
was a detail.

Had she been a little less well-bred, I think she would have bridled. As
it was, she really did smirk a little, in a ladylike way.

We took cabs, and drove out past all that was commercial, to the place
where the towing-path began to be prettiest, and the illuminations the
most fantastic.

I was in a cab with the fiancee and her prospective sisters-