Her actual converse with Durham moved, meanwhile, strictly in the
conventional ruts: had he been long in Paris, which of the new plays
did he like best, was it true that American _jeunes filles_ were
sometimes taken to the Boulevard theatres? And she threw an
interrogative glance at the young ladies beside the tea-table. To
Durham's reply that it depended how much French they knew, she
shrugged and smiled, replying that his compatriots all spoke French
like Parisians, enquiring, after a moment's thought, if they learned
it, _la bas, des negres_, and laughing heartily when Durham's
astonishment revealed her blunder.

When at length she had taken leave--enveloping the Durham ladies in
a last puzzled penetrating look--Madame de Malrive turned to Mrs.
Durham with a faintly embarrassed smile.

"My sister-in-law was much interested; I believe you are the first
Americans she has ever known."

"Good gracious!" ejaculated Nannie, as though such social darkness
required immediate missionary action on some one's part.

"Well, she knows _us_," said Durham, catching in Madame de Malrive's
rapid glance, a startled assent to his point.

"After all," reflected the accurate Katy, as though seeking an
excuse for Madame de Treymes' unenlightenment, "_we_ don't know
many French people, either."

To which Nannie promptly if obscurely retorted: "Ah, but we couldn't