t he had planned for her.

He learned that a peasant girl, answering to her description, had
boarded the westward-bound train at the village, in the early morning,
and had left it again at Nice.

He hastened hither at once, and was told that such a girl had been seen
in the waiting-room of the station; but further than that he could get
no trace of her, and was finally obliged to return to his home, where,
upon the other members of his family, he vented his disappointment and
anger over the loss of such valuable help.

The mother, who was far superior to her husband in every way, grieved
long and bitterly over the loss of her first-born, but it was many
months before she learned the truth regarding her untimely end.

* * * * * *

Violet's journey to Paris was accomplished with very little weariness
and nothing of incident. Her first business upon reaching the French
metropolis was to go to a lady's furnishing house, where she purchased a
simple but comfortable outfit, after which she proceeded to a
respectable _pension_, which she had heard highly recommended by some
Americans whom she had met in London.

It was fortunate that she had a liberal supply of money in her
possession. She had never been stinted, for it was supposed that she was
the heir to a large fortune, and a certain income was paid to her
quarterly. Since she had been joined by her sister and her husband she
had not had occasion to use much money, as Mr. Mencke had settled all
her bills, and she had several hundred dollars in her possession at the
time of her flight.

This fact, together with the discovery that she could find a very safe
and pleasant home for a time in the _pension_, where she was stopping,
somewhat changed her original plan of returning directly to America, and
she resolved to remain in Paris a while for the purpose of perfecting
herself more fully in French, and also to take a few finishing lessons
in music, for she had determined to make use of these branches in
supporting herself in the future.

She threw her whole heart into her work, and few people would have
recognized in this grave, studious girl, the bright, laughing, care-free
Violet who had been such a favorite among her friends in Cincinnati the
year previous.

She put herself under the best of teachers, and made the most of her
time and opportunities; thus nearly four months slipped by, and then she
resolved to go home to America.