"Not for any fault. Mrs. Leon was very glad to get Berthe, and as Natalie is situated——"
"I see. I hope she is comfortable with Cousin Achsah."
"They hit it off astonishingly well. The fact is, nobody could help loving Natalie—I am surprised that you have not been to see her."
"I know I have seemed negligent. I have a good excuse. Where, in New York, does Mrs. Leon live?"
"At the Fifth Avenue Hotel," she replied, wondering at the question.
"Well," he said, after a pause, and treating her answer as though, like his question, it was of no real interest. "I must not keep you here. You don't mind going home alone?"
"I should be glad of your company; aside from that, I don't mind."
"Then, good-bye," touching her hand for an instant. "Make my excuses to Mrs. Joe; I have been really very busy. Home, James." He closed the carriage door and walked rapidly away, leaving Paula vexed, to sink back in the soft seat and to wonder.
He walked across the Square to the region of shops and entered a large grocery store—at this time of day, deserted. "Could you give me a bill for fifty dollars?" he asked of the cashier.
"I believe I can, Professor," replied the official, drawing one from the desk, and exchanging it for the smaller bills handed him by Leonard, who thanked him and went out. That night he enclosed the single bill in an envelope, and addressed it to Mademoiselle Berthe, in care of Mrs. Leon.