"A very intelligent, well-balanced young man," the host remarked. "If the other one is as sensible, they are sons to be proud of."
"Their mother is proud of them, but their father would rather have had them in business," said Daffodil.
Belinda Pemberton was quite fascinated with Daffodil. "You are such a sweet, quaint, honest little thing," she said, "and you do make such delightfully naïve remarks. And Arthur declares you must have learned to dance in fairyland."
"I think I did," she returned gayly. "And I do love it so."
Then the little circle, and the wider one, had a fine surprise. Betty Wharton, now Madame Clerval, returned quite unexpectedly, as her husband had resigned his position.
"I had quite enough of Paris," she said to a friend. "One wants an immense fortune to truly enjoy it. And somehow things seem shaky. Then, too, one does have a longing for home when one gets past youth."
So she opened her house and set up a carriage. Monsieur Clerval found himself quite in demand by the government, as the country needed a multitude of counsellors.
She came in to see M. de Ronville, who gallantly said she had renewed her youth, and begged for the secret.
"It is simply to keep young, to resolve not to grow old;" with a gay emphasis.
"But time passes, my dear lady."