Nothing to rouse alarm was discovered at Carlsruhe. Livia's fair cousin
was there with the red-haired gaunt girl of the mountains; and it was
frankly stated by Henrietta, that she had accompanied the girl a certain
distance along the Strasburg road, for her to see the last of her brother
Chillon on his way to England. Livia was not the woman to push
inquiries. On that subject, she merely said, as soon as they were alone
together:

'You seem to have had the lion's share of the parting.'

'Yes, we passed Mr. Chumley Potts,' was Henrietta's immediate answer; and
her reference to him disarmed Livia.

They smiled at his name transiently, but in agreement: the tattler-spout
of their set was, a fatal person to encounter, and each deemed the sudden
apparition of him in the very early morning along the Carlsruhe road
rather magical.

'You place particular confidence in Russett's fidelity to his word,
Riette--as you have been hearing yourself called. You should be serious
by this time. Russett won't bear much more. I counted on the night of
the Ball for the grand effect. You will extinguish every woman there--
and if he is absent?'

'I shall excuse him.'

'You are not in a position to be so charitable. You ought to know your
position, and yourself too, a little better than you do. How could you
endure poverty? Chillon Kirby stands in his uniform, and all's told. He
can manoeuvre, we know. He got the admiral away to take him to those