“Yes, a large amount.”

“Why, Paley!”

“Don’t look so sad, Lilian. It won’t kill me; and while I have you, I need not complain.”

“But how did you lose it, Paley?”

“By the fall of stocks.”

I showed her one of the evening papers, in which the bursting of the copper bubble was fully detailed. She looked at the article, but she could not understand it, and I explained the matter to her.

“You haven’t lost all—have you, Paley?”

“No, not all, my dear. But I have something else to tell you. How would you like to live in Paris for a year or two?”

“In Paris!” exclaimed she, her face lighting up with pleasure.