nt in her voice,
"that Nick van Rensselaer came to her at Bar Harbor, and asked the use
of her name if he furnished the means to send you abroad to study. He
said that he was especially anxious to remain unknown in the matter.
Mrs. Ravenel told me afterward that you had declined the offer because
of having inherited a fortune yourself. But, of course, I thought you
must have met him; in fact, I remember that Frank said he thought so,
too. By-the-way," she went on, rising to go, "he is coming over soon;
Mr. Ravenel, I mean." She looked conscious for a second, as though
preferring to keep something back, and then finished: "He will, of
course, call while he is here?"

"He may be so kind," Katrine answered, suavely.

"Good-bye," Mrs. Lennox said, holding out a slim, black-gloved hand
first to the Countess and then to Katrine. "I hope your studies will let
you come to me soon. I hear you are to make your debut in the spring."

Katrine laughed. "That will be as Josef says."

"Good-bye again."

After Mrs. Lennox had left the room, Katrine and the Countess looked at
each other with questioning in the eyes of each.

"You lived at a place called Ravenel," Madame de Nemours asked, "and
never told me?"

"I did not think the name one you would care to hear," Katrine answered.

"Ah, you so sweet thing!" the Countess cried, impulsively, putting her
hand on the girl's cheek. "You were right. There are probably thousands
of Ravenels in America unconnected with my unfortunate life."

But Katrine, who had had her own surprises in the interview, inquired,
"Why did Mrs. Lennox, who is very beautiful, very wealthy, and of the
monde, take so much trouble to come here to tell me of a Mr. van
Rensselaer?"

"I didn't think she came for that alone," answered the Countess. "I
thought she wanted you to know that Monsieur Ravenel was coming over to
visit her."

Naturally, a marked change in Katrine's attitude toward her unknown
benefactor followed this talk with Anne Lennox. She had become
accustomed to think of "The Dear Unknown" as a lady, old and beneficent.
The new idea was startling. Thinking it over, she became convinced of
the extreme unlikelihood that two people should have become so greatly
interested in her voice at exactly the same time, and her conclusions
led to believing that Mrs. Lennox had probably given her a true version
of the affair. But if Nicholas van Rensselaer were her patron, instead
of some white-haired old l