Jeanne of the Marshes | Page 7

think that I shall call upon you."
Cecil de la Borne looked up eagerly.
"I wish you would," he begged, "and bring your step-daughter. You
can't imagine," he added, with a glance at the girl who was sitting at his
left hand, "how much pleasure it would give me. The roads are really
not bad, and every one admits that the country is delightful."
"You had better be careful," the Princess said, "or we may take you at
your word. I warn you, though, that it would be a regular invasion.
Major Forrest and Lord Ronald are talking about coming with us."
"It's just an idea," Forrest remarked carelessly. "I wouldn't mind it

myself, but I don't fancy we should get Engleton away from town
before Goodwood."
"Well, I like that," Engleton remarked. "Forrest's a lot keener on these
social functions than I am. As a matter of fact I am for the tour, on one
condition."
"And that?" the Princess asked.
"That you come in my car," Lord Ronald answered. "I haven't really
had a chance to try it yet, but it's a sixty horse Mercedes, and it's fitted
up for touring. Take the lot of us easy, luggage and everything."
"I think it would be perfectly delightful," the Princess declared. "Do
you really mean it?"
"Of course I do," Lord Ronald answered. "It's too hot for town, and I'm
rather great on rusticating, myself."
"I think this is charming," the Princess declared. "Here we have one of
our friends with a car and another with a house. But seriously, Cecil,
we mustn't think of coming to you. There would be too many of us."
"The more the better," Cecil said eagerly. "If you really want to attempt
anything in the shape of a rest-cure, I can recommend my home
thoroughly. I am afraid," he added, with a shrug of the shoulders, "that
I cannot recommend it for anything else."
"A rest," the Princess declared, "is exactly what we want. Life here is
becoming altogether too strenuous. We started the season a little early.
I am perfectly certain that we could not possibly last till the end. Until I
arrived in London with an heiress under my charge, I had no idea that I
was such a popular person."
The girl who was sitting on the other side of their host spoke almost for
the first time. She was evidently quite young, and her pale cheeks, dark
full eyes, and occasional gestures, indicated clearly enough something
foreign in her nationality. She addressed no one in particular, but she

looked toward Forrest.
"That is one of the things," she said, "which puzzles me. I do not
understand it at all. It seems as though every one is liked or disliked,
here in London at any rate, according to the amount of money they
have."
"Upon my word, Miss Jeanne, it isn't so with every one," Lord Ronald
interposed hastily.
She glanced at him indifferently.
"There may be exceptions," she said. "I am speaking of the great
number."
"For Heaven's sake, child, don't be cynical!" the Princess remarked.
"There is no worse pose for a child of your age."
"It is not a pose at all," Jeanne answered calmly. "I do not want to be
cynical, and I do not want to have unkind thoughts. But tell me, Lord
Ronald, honestly, do you think that every one would have been as kind
to a girl just out of boarding-school as they have been to me if it were
not that I have so much money?"
"I cannot tell about others," Lord Ronald answered. "I can only answer
for myself."
His last words were almost whispered in the girl's ears, but she only
shrugged her shoulders and did not return his gaze. Their host, who had
been watching them, frowned slightly. He was beginning to think that
Engleton was scarcely as pleasant a fellow as he had thought him.
"Well," he said, "Miss Le Mesurier will find out in time who are really
her friends."
"It is a safe plan," Major Forrest remarked, "and a pleasant one, to
believe in everybody until they want something from you. Then is the
time for distrust."

Jeanne sighed.
"And by that time, perhaps," she said, "one's affections are hopelessly
engaged. I think that it is a very difficult world."
The Princess shrugged her shoulders.
"Three months," she remarked, "is not a long time. Wait, my dear child,
until you have at least lived through a single season before you commit
yourself to any final opinions."
Their host intervened. He was beginning to find the conversation dull.
He was far more interested in another matter.
"Let us talk about that visit," he said to the Princess. "I do wish that you
could make up your mind to come. Of