"Well, it has been a night of nights, and I am not surprised at anything," said Miss Billy. "To think that Francis should prove to be the Count, and Margaret and her set should go wild over him! Did you know, Beatrice, that he is a Princeton graduate;—and has had a year at Heidelberg, beside?"
Beatrice yawned. "Is there any more to do to-night?" she said. "I'm very sleepy."
[CHAPTER XVIII]
MARGARET LENDS ASSISTANCE
“Though whatsoever ills betide,
I’ll stand for ever by your side,
And naught shall you and me divide
Because you are my friend.”
THE only nice thing about your going away is your coming home again," said Miss Billy to Margaret.
The two girls were seated side by side on the floor in Margaret's room, which bore a startling resemblance to a fancy bazaar. The bed was filled with airy masses of silk and gauze, the divan covered with ribbons and gloves and shoes, and the floor strewn with a varied assortment of hats, perfumery flasks, filigree silver and handkerchiefs. Margaret's last trunk had arrived from abroad, and the two girls were spending the morning at that mysterious and delightful task known to all womankind as "unpacking."
"It's the next best thing to going away myself," continued Miss Billy, "to have you go; and come home with so much of the foreign atmosphere about you. Your sentences fairly ooze Rhine water, and foreign castles, and pretzels."