She lifted her face with a troubled smile.
"I have everything I want," she said.
"Poor dear," said Stainton, "you're pale. I suppose you scarcely dared to go out of doors while I was away. No, come on: we shall go now."
"Please," said Muriel; "I have all I want."
"All?" smiled her husband.
"Of course I have. You've got me such loads of lovely things already that I don't know what I am to do with them all and where to pack them. You know you have got me ever so much, Jim."
"For yourself, perhaps I have got you a few things, dearie; and I'm glad you like them. But I have always heard that Paris was the place to get some other sort of things. Aren't there some of those—some little things—some little lace things that we ought to get against the arrival of the newcomer? I am so proud, Muriel, and I want the newcomer to know I am."
"So soon——" she said.
"We might as well make what preparations we can while we are in the city where the best preparations can be made. No, no. You must come. Come along."