"Anne, if Koltsoff returns and I don't see him, let me know the very first minute, will you, please?" She glanced at the girl with an expression best described as detached. "If it interests you any, my daughter, you succeeded in making a sensation this afternoon—you and Koltsoff. I gather that everything was done but placarding him; and I have heard of at least eight persons you cut in the Casino."
"Oh—mother, by the way, if I am not too inquisitive," said Anne, hastening to change the trend of thought, "I read, or heard, somewhere that father was interested in getting hold of a Russian issue of railroad bonds, or something of the sort. Is Prince Koltsoff concerned?"
"Your father has no business dealings with him. Dismiss that thought. Railroad bonds—I believe he was looking into them. I don't know the details, or rather do not recall them. I do remember, though, his saying that he had relinquished the opportunity to the French with great pleasure."
"Oh," said Anne, "I imagined his visit here was a mingling of business with pleasure."
"I don't know what it is a mingling of, I 'm quite sure," said Mrs. Wellington. She turned to go. "I 'm dining out to-night, at the Cunningham-Jones'. I shouldn't have accepted, but you were to be at Berger's with your theatre party. You won't mind, Sara?"
"Not at all, Mrs. Wellington, don't bother about me. I hope I 'm not company."
Mrs. Wellington smiled. She was very partial to the young widow.
"The boys are at Ochre Point for the night. You might call up people if you want company for dinner, Anne."
"To think," cried Anne, as her mother left the room, "how events have shaped themselves for us! Of course we shan't dine at home; I 'll have Emilia tell Mrs. Stetson after we have gone. Now, Sara, what can we do exciting?" Her eyes flashed with animation as she gazed at her friend. "Shall it be shop girl disguises with dinner on Thames Street, or what?"
"I know," cried Sara. "We 'll put on shirt-waist suits and plain hats, muss our hair a bit, and take a trip on a sight-seeing barge."