"But a Red Cross nurse can, ma tante, and I have my diploma."
"The boat leaving to-morrow, my dear Julia, doesn't take passengers."
"Oh, ma tante! There will be no other boat for Algiers," she opened the newspaper, "until ... oh, heavens!"
"But Robert de Tremont's yacht is in the harbor."
Miss Redmond looked at her aunt speechlessly.
"I shall telegraph Madame de Haussonvelle and ask permission for you to go in that as an auxiliary of the Red Cross to Algiers, or, rather, Robert is at Nice. I shall telegraph him."
"Oh, ma tante!"
"He asked me to make up my own party for a cruise on the Mediterranean," said the Marquise d'Esclignac thoughtfully.
Miss Redmond fetched the telegraph blank and the pad from the table. The color began to return to her cheeks. She put from her mind the idea that her aunt had plans for her. All ways were fair in the present situation.
The Marquise d'Esclignac wrote her despatch, a very long one, slowly. She said to her servant: