keep them."

"My faith!" the hostess broke in, "to real souls 'tis they are the
wonder--and the _poésie_--and the jewels! Ask Aline!"

"Ask me," Chester said, as if for mademoiselle's rescue; "I discovered
them only last week."

"And then also," quietly said Aline, "ask me, for I did not discover
them only last week."

M. Prieur joining in enabled Chester to murmur: "May I ask you
something?"

"You need not. You would ask if I knew you had discovered them--M.
Castanado and the rest."

"And you would answer?"

"That I knew they had discovered you."

"Discovered, you mean, my spiritual substance?"

"Yes, your spiritual substance. That's a capital expression, Mr.
Chester, your 'spiritual substance.' I must add that to my English."

"Your English is wonderfully correct. May I ask something else?"

"I can answer without. Yes, I know where you're going to-morrow and
for what; to read that old manuscript. Mr. Chester, that other