e here and revive the memory of the dear old days
when we were all innocent and happy! Dear me, I used to think I could
patronize that little country girl from Brandon! I was so worldly--don't
you remember?--and she was so good. And now she is such a splendid woman,
it is difficult for the rest of us to keep pace with her. The nerve she
has, and the things she will do! I just envy her. I sometimes think she
will drive me into a convent. And don't you think she is more beautiful
than ever? Of course her face is a little careworn, but nobody makes up
as she does; she was just ravishing the other night. Do you know, I think
she takes her husband too seriously."

"I trust she is happy," the earl had said.

"Why shouldn't she be?" Carmen asked in return. "She has everything she
wants. They both have a little temper; life would be flat without that;
she is a little irritable sometimes; she didn't use to be; and when they
don't agree they let each other alone for a little. I think she is as
happy as anybody can be who is married. Now you are shocked! Well, I
don't know any one who is more in love than she is, and that may be
happiness. She is becoming exactly like Mr. Henderson. You couldn't ask
anything more than that."

If Margaret were really happy, the earl told Miss Forsythe, he was glad,
but it was scarcely the career he would have thought would have suited
her.

Meantime, the great house was approaching completion. Henderson's palace,
in the upper part of the city, had long been a topic for the
correspondents of the country press. It occupied half a square. Many
critics were discontented with it because it did not occupy the whole
square. Everybody was interested in having it the finest residence on the
continent. Why didn't Henderson take the whole block of ground, build his
palace on three sides, with the offices and stables on the fourth, throw
a glass roof over the vast interior court, plant it with tropical trees
and plants, adorn it with flower-beds and fountains, and make a veritable
winter-garden, giving the inhabitants a temperate climate all the cold
months? He might easily have summer in the centre of the city from
November to April. These rich people never know what to do with their
money. Such a place would give distinction to the city, and compel
foreigners to recognize the high civilization of America. A great deal of
fault was found with Henderson privately for his parsimony in such a
splendid opport