Jeanne.

"A great friend? I should think he was," said Germaine. "Why, it was
through Relzieres that we got to know Jacques."

"Where was that?" said Marie.

"Here--in this very chateau," said Germaine.

"Actually in his own house?" said Marie, in some surprise.

"Yes; actually here. Isn't life funny?" said Germaine. "If, a few
months after his father's death, Jacques had not found himself hard-
up, and obliged to dispose of this chateau, to raise the money for
his expedition to the South Pole; and if papa and I had not wanted
an historic chateau; and lastly, if papa had not suffered from
rheumatism, I should not be calling myself in a month from now the
Duchess of Charmerace."

"Now what on earth has your father's rheumatism got to do with your
being Duchess of Charmerace?" cried Jeanne.

"Everything," said Germaine. "Papa was afraid that this chateau was
damp. To prove to papa that he had nothing to fear, Jacques, en
grand seigneur, offered him his hospitality, here, at Charmerace,
for three weeks."

"That was truly ducal," said Marie.

"But he is always like that," said Sonia.