Having made up her mind and completed her plans, she went to Madame as soon as she was dressed. She had hidden her paleness with so little rouge that even Madame's keen eyes could not suspect it.
"Aunt Francesca," she began, without preliminary, "I've got to go away."
"Why, dear, and where? For how long?"
"Because I'm so tired. Things have been hard for me—over there, lately —and I don't care where I go."
"I see," returned Madame, tenderly. "You want to go away for a rest.
You've needed it for a long time."
"Yes," Rose nodded, swinging easily into the lie that did not deceive either. "Oh, Aunt Francesca, can I go to-day?"
"Surely—at any hour you choose."
"And you'll—make it right?"
"Indeed I will. I'll just say that you've been obliged to go away on business—to look after some investments for both of us, and I hope you'll stay away long enough to get the rest and change you've needed for almost a year."
"Oh, Aunt Francesca, how good you are! But where? Where shall I go?"