Chapter 1 - Page 2

non-arrival, even when he
sat, as he was capable of sitting for hours, in the court of the inn. As
he glanced down at the two newspapers in their desert of green velvet he
raised a hopeless uninterested glass to his eye. "Delia dear, where's
your little sister?"

Delia made no movement whatever, nor did any expression, so far as could
be perceived, pass over her large young face. She only ejaculated: "Why,
Mr. Flack, where did you drop from?"

"Well, this is a good place to meet," her father remarked, as if mildly,
and as a mere passing suggestion, to deprecate explanations.

"Any place is good where one meets old friends," said George Flack,
looking also at the newspapers. He examined the date of the American
sheet and then put it down. "Well, how do you like Paris?" he
subsequently went on to the young lady.

"We quite enjoy it; but of course we're familiar now."

"Well, I was in hopes I could show you something," Mr. Flack said.

"I guess they've seen most everything," Mr. Dosson observed.

"Well, we've seen more than you!" exclaimed his daughter.

"Well, I've seen a good deal--just sitting there."

A person with delicate ear might have suspected Mr. Dosson of a tendency
to "setting"; but he would pronounce the same word in a different manner
at different times.

"Well, in Paris you can see everything," said the young man. "I'm quite
enthusiastic about Paris."

"Haven't you been here before?" Miss Delia asked.

"Oh yes, but it's ever fresh. And how is Miss Francie?"

"She's all right. She has gone upstairs to get something. I guess we're
going out again."

"It's very attractive for the young," Mr. Dosson pleaded to the visitor.

"Well then, I'm one of the young. Do you mind if I go with you?" Mr.
Flack continued to the girl.

"It'll seem like old times, on the deck," she replied. "We're going to
the Bon Marche."

"Why don't you go to the Louvre? That's the place for YOU."

"We've just come from there: we've had quite a morning."

"Well, it's a good place," the visitor a trifle dryly opined.

"It's good for some things but it doesn't come up to my idea for
others."

"Oh they've seen everything," said Mr. Dosson. Then he added: "I guess
I'll go and call Francie."

"Well, tell her to hurry," Miss Delia returned, swinging a glove in each
hand.

"She knows my pace," Mr. Flack remarked.

"I should think she would, the way you