d again that she would like very much
to go, but could not decide at such short notice.

Mrs. Mencke did not renew the subject after their caller's departure,
and wisely maintained a somewhat indifferent manner, as if she did not
care very much whether Violet went or not.

Mr. Mencke came in a little later from his club, and she broached the
plan to him before Violet. Of course it had all been talked over before
between husband and wife.

He, also appeared to graciously favor the proposition.

"Why, yes," he said, "if Violet wants to go to Europe, let her; you say
she does not like the idea of going to Canada with us, and as we are
going to shut up the house, she must go somewhere."

"But she is not quite sure that she even wants to go with Althea," Mrs.
Mencke remarked, while she watched her sister closely.

"Humph," responded Mr. Mencke, bluntly; "it must be either one thing or
the other. Which shall it be, Violet--Europe or Canada? We can't leave
you here while we are away."

"It is a somewhat important question to decide at such short notice,"
Violet returned, coldly, and determined that she would not commit
herself until she could consult Wallace.

She was a little surprised that he should still talk of Canada, for she
had imagined that the trip had been planned wholly on her account.

She could not know that this was a pretense, intended to blind her still
further.

The next morning Mrs. Mencke went up to Violet's room about nine o'clock
and found her apparently engaged in reading a magazine.

"I am going out shopping," she remarked. "I have a great deal to do;
don't you want to come and help me?"

Violet looked up in surprise.

"Why, Belle, you know that I never suit your taste in shopping, and you
always veto what I suggest," she said.

"But you will need a great many things yourself for your trip abroad,
and you can at least purchase handkerchiefs, stockings, underwear, and
so forth," her sister returned.

"But I have not yet decided to go," Violet replied, annoyed that her
acquiescence should be thus taken for granted, "and in case I do not I
have plenty of everything for my needs at present."

"Well, then, Vio, come to keep me company," Mrs. Mencke urged, trying to
conceal her real purpose, to keep her sister under her surveillance,
beneath an affectionate exterior.

"Thank you, Belle, but really I do not want to go, and you will be so
absorbed in your shopping that you will not miss me,"