"Well, if you ever want to try something else,--there are such lots
of fascinating things a girl can do now!--be sure you come and see me
about it," the stranger said. "I am Mrs. Carr-Boldt, of New York."

Margaret's amazed eyes flashed to Mrs. Carr-Boldt's face; her
cheeks crimsoned.

"Mrs. Carr-Boldt!" she echoed blankly.

"Why not?" smiled the lady, not at all displeased.

"Why," stammered Margaret, laughing and rosy, "why, nothing--only
I never dreamed who you were!" she finished, a little confused.

And indeed it never afterward seemed to her anything short of a
miracle that brought the New York society woman--famed on two
continents and from ocean to ocean for her jewels, her entertainments,
her gowns, her establishments--into a Weston schoolroom, and into
Margaret Paget's life.

"I was on my way to New York now," said Mrs. Carr-Boldt.

"I don't see why you should be delayed," Margaret said, glad to be
able to speak normally, with such a fast-beating and pleasantly
excited heart. "I'm sure Dorothy's all right."

"Oh, I'd rather wait. I like my company," said the other. And Margaret
decided in that instant that there never was a more deservedly admired
and copied and quoted woman.