CHAPTER VII
THE INCA EYE
and Mrs. Dalton give us a beautiful Spanish-French dinner in a private room of the Gran Hotel where they live. Mrs. Dalton is palpably delighted with the Baron de Bach. He is unusually reserved, but gravity sits well on him, and, as I see him crossing swords with this clever woman of the world, I find my admiration growing. He seems not to see me all through dinner, and, like the stupid young person I am, I fall to regretting that by the side of our brilliant, travelled hostess I must seem provincial and dull. I am not sorry when, shortly after dinner, Mrs. Steele, regretting we have to leave so early the following day, remembers a friend she must see that night, and we take our leave.
"Señorita look fery tire—she better stay in dthe hotel. I vill escort you, Madame, vidth plaisir."
We stop a moment on the stairs.
"Oh, no! I especially want Blanche to see the interior of a handsome native house. You're not too tired, are you, dear?"
"No," I say, "I'll go."