to face him. I had the Senator all ready
to take the place which Mr. Birmingham has to-day, when Arthur called
him off."

"He never could have been elected, Anne."

"I never could see why. The people that said that didn't think Mr.
Vandervelt could be made ambassador to England, at least this time. But
he kem so near it that Quincy Livingstone complimented me on my interest
for Mr. Vandervelt. And just the same, Dan Dillon would have won had he
run for the office. It was with him a case of not wantin' to be de
trop."

"Your French is tres propos, Anne," said Monsignor with a laugh.

"If you want to hear an opinion of it," said the clever woman, laughing,
too, "go and hear the complaints of Mary and Sister Magdalen. Mais je
suis capable de parler Francais tout de meme."

"And are you still afraid of Arthur? Wouldn't you venture on a little
protest against his exposing himself to needless danger?"

"I can do that, certainement, but no more. I love him, he's so fine a
boy, and I wish I could make free wid him; but he terrifies me when I
think of everything and look at him. More than wanst have I seen Arthur
Dillon looking out at me from his eyes; and sometimes I feel that Pat is
in the room with me when he is around. As I said, I got courage to face
him, and he was grieved that I had to. For he went right into the
contest over Vandervelt, and worked beautifully for the Countess of
Skibbereen. I'm to dine with her at the Vandervelts' next week, the
farewell dinner."

Her tones had a velvet tenderness in uttering this last sentence. She
had touched one of the peaks of her ambition.

"I shall meet you there," said Monsignor, taking a pinch of snuff.
"Anne, you're a wonderful woman. How have all these wonders come about?"

"It would take a head like your own to tell," she answered, with a
meaning look at her handsome afternoon costume. "But I know some of the
points of the game. I met Mr. Vandervelt at a reception, and told him he
should not miss his chance to be ambassador, even if Livingstone lost
the election and wanted to go to England himself. Then he whispered to
me the loveliest whisper. Says he, 'Mrs. Dillon, they think it will be a
good way to get rid of Mr. Livingstone if he's defeated,' says he; 'but
if he wins I'll never get the high place, says he, 'for Tammany will be
of no account for years.'"

Anne smiled to herself with simple delight over that whispered
confidence of a Vandervelt, and Monsignor s