a wonderful woman. I have often
speculated on the absence of a like ability in her son."

"Nature is kind. Wait till I'm as old as she is," said the son.

"The crowd awaits her to do her honor. The common travelers _will land_
this morning, glad to set foot on solid ground again. Mrs. Montgomery
Dillon and her party are the only personages that _will arrive from
Europe_. The crowd gathers to meet, not the passengers who merely land,
but the personages who arrive from Europe."

"Nice distinction. And who is the crowd?"

"Monsignor O'Donnell----"

"A very old and dear friend----"

"Who hopes to build his cathedral with her help. The Senator----"

"Representing the Dillon clan."

"Who did not dare absent himself, and hopes for more inspiration like
that which took him out of the ring and made him a great man.
Vandervelt."

"Well, he, of course, is purely disinterested."

"Didn't she inform him of her triumph over Livingstone in London? And
isn't he to be the next ambassador, and more power to him?"

"And John Everard of course."

"To greet his daughter, and to prevent your humble servant from kissing
the same," and he sighed with pleasure and triumph. "Where is she? Shall
I have long to wait? Is she changed?"

"Ask her brother," with a nod for the upper berth where Louis slept
serenely.

"And of course you have news?"

"Loads of it. I have arranged for a breakfast and a talk after the
arrival is finished. There'll be more to eat than the steak."

The steamer swung to the pier some hours later, and Arthur walked
ashore to the music of a band which played decorously the popular
strains for a popular hero returning crowned with glory. His mother
arrived as became the late guest of the Irish nobility. Grahame handed
Mona into her father's arms with an exasperating gesture, and then
plunged into his note-book, as if he did not care. The surprised
passengers wondered what hidden greatness had traveled with them across
the sea. On the deck Sonia watched the scene with dull interest, for
some one had murmured something about a notorious Fenian getting back
home to his kind. Arthur saw her get into a cab with her party a few
minutes later and drive away. A sadness fell upon him, the bitterness
which follows the fading of our human dreams before the strong light of
day.

CHAPTER XIX.

LA BELLE COLETTE.

After the situation had been discussed over the breakfast for ten
minutes Arthur understood the m