"Walter!" said Helen, reproachfully, while tears suffused her fine eyes.
"Forgive me, Helle, if my words grate on your feelings. It is best for married folk to understand each other's peculiarities as early as possible. Shall I ring for Elise, for you are tangling and tearing your hair to pieces?"
"If you please. I will soon join you, if you will tell me where to find you," she replied, with assumed composure.
"At the breakfast table, I trust," he said, pleasantly; "I am thirsting for a cup of mocha, after my long journey."
"I suspect you will find it ready. I ordered them to have it ready early;—but see, Walter! have you any special engagement this forenoon?"
"Nothing very particular after ten, Helen. Why?"
"Why, you know that Matinées are all the rage now. I hold my first one to-day.—All the world have promised to come!"
"You don't want me, then?" he said, laughing.
"Of course I do. It will look proper for you to be present at the first. People can't be ill-natured then. I've heard a great many queer stories about the Matinées."
"It is well to be prudent in these fashionable follies, Helle—touch some of them with gloves on. I do not like this new style of thing, but if it's the fashion, we must fall in. I'll come, provided there is no scandal and high play," he said, laughing.