Sylvia looked at Chester; she was smiling; he thought she would like him
to accept.

"That is very kind of you," he said cordially.

Sylvia nodded her head gaily: "You are more than kind, dear Madame
Wachner," she exclaimed. "We shall be delighted to come! I thought of
taking Mr. Chester a drive through the Forest of Montmorency. Will it do
if we are with you about five?"

"Yes," said Madame Wachner.

And then, to Chester's satisfaction, she turned and went away. "I cannot
stay now," she said, "for l'Ami Fritz is waiting for me. 'E does not like
to be kept waiting."

"What a nice woman!" said Chester heartily, "and how lucky you are,
Sylvia, to have made her acquaintance in such a queer place as this. But
I suppose you have got to know quite a number of people in the hotel?"

"Well, no--," she stopped abruptly. She certainly had come to know the
Comte de Virieu, but he was the exception, not the rule.

"You see, Bill, Lacville is the sort of place where everyone thinks
everyone else rather queer! I fancy some of the ladies here--they are
mostly foreigners, Russians, and Germans--think it very odd that I should
be by myself in such a place."

She spoke without thinking--in fact she uttered her thoughts aloud.