“Doesn’t it say somewhere in the Bible ‘Vengeance is mine and I will repay,’ saith the Lord,” she thought. “Surely my payment will be heavy if it equal my indebtedness; but it is my nature, and I cannot help it.”
At last as she grew more and more impatient and Alice did not come, she sent Celine for her. Celine, who had been Helen’s maid for years and knew her nearly as well as she knew herself, was never in the way, and Helen bade her go on with her hair dressing as soon as she re-entered the room. To Alice who came in with Celine her first word was, “Well?”
“Well!” Alice returned, and Helen continued, “What news from Genoa? You have been gone a long time and must have something to tell.”
“Lots! About everything. Shall it be the Sphinx first, or Hercules?” Alice asked, and Helen repeated, “Hercules? Who is he? Oh, yes, I know. I’ll take him second, and the Sphinx first. I know he is here; mamma told me. You have been on the river with a dreadful boy who stands on his head and picked your pocket. Skip him, and begin with the Sphinx. What is he like?”
“Very much like any other city bred gentleman,” Alice replied. “A little stiff, perhaps, especially in the matter of shirt fronts and collars. Jeff,—that’s the dreadful boy,—says he changes them every day, and he does impress you as having just been washed and ironed, he looks so clean from his head to his feet.”
“Nonsense! You are comparing him with those sweaty men on your uncle’s farm. Seven shirts and collars and fourteen cuffs a week! What a laundry bill! But go on. Is he good looking?”
“Yes; with a rather delicate cast of countenance for a man. He was very polite, and after his stiffness wore off, talked delightfully. He mistook me for you.”
“Oh,” Helen said quickly, as if not quite pleased. “You undeceived him of course.”
“Certainly I did. I told him I was only your cousin, a teacher in a district school among the mountains.”
“I don’t see the need of your dragging that in,” Helen said, and Alice rejoined, “Knowing how rich you are he might think me rich, too, and I don’t want to sail under false colors.”