glishman, as
you might wait to hear that sentence of death on some one you were fond
of had been carried out. Ah, mon Dieu, quel brave homme! I'm proud to
belong to the people who produced him. I don't know that I ever was
before."

"Oh, the world is full of brave fellows, when the moment comes to try
them."

"Perhaps. I'm not convinced. What about _him_?" She flicked her hand
again toward Ashley. "Would he stand a big test?"

"He's stood a good many of them, I understand. He's certainly been equal
to his duty here."

"He's done what a gentleman couldn't help doing. That's something, but
it's possible to ask more."

"I hope you're not going to ask it," he began, in some anxiety.

"He strikes me as a man who would grant what was wrung from him, while
the other--my blond Hercules--gives royally, like a king."

"There's a soul that climbs as by a ladder, and there's a soul that
soars naturally as a lark. I don't know that it matters which they do,
so long as they both mount upward."

"We shall see."

"What shall we see? I hope you're not up to anything, Vic?"

With another jerk of her hand in the direction of Ashley and Drusilla,
she said, "That's the match that should have--"

But the old man was out of his seat. "You must excuse me now, Vic. I've
some work to do."

"Yes, be off. Only--"

She put her forefinger on her lips, rolling her eyes under the brim of
her extravagant hat with an expression intended to exclude from their
pact of confidence not only the other two occupants of the room, but
every one else.

Olivia received the reply to her telegram: "Shall arrive in Boston
Wednesday night."

Considering it time to bring the purely financial side of the situation
under discussion, Madame de Melcourt explained to her niece that she,
the Marquise, had nothing to do, in her own person, with the
extraordinary person who was about to arrive. Her part would be
accomplished when once she had handed over the _dot_ either to Olivia or
to her trustees. As the passing of this sum through Miss Guion's hands
was to be no more than a formality, the question of trustees was not
worth taking up. With the transfer of securities for the amount agreed
upon from the one name to the other--a piece of business which would be
carried out by Davis & Stern--the Marquise considered that she would
have done all for which she could be called upon. Everything else
concerned Olivia and her father and Davenant. Her own interest