* * * * *
It was with a little sigh of regret that Helen received the final
summons for an immediate return to Thebes. She reproached herself for
the feeling, and resolutely made up her mind that her one supreme
longing was to begin the quiet life she had planned to lead with Braine,
in the little white cottage, with the bed of sweet-williams before the
door.
Gladys had solemnly promised to visit her there during Lent, when,
"Society is so deadly dull, you know." (A promise which she kept, making
Thebes her place of retirement and meditation in preparation for her
marriage after Easter.)
Braine set out on the return journey with a peculiar buoyancy of spirits
which helped to drive away Helen's little regrets.
"Never mind, dear," he said, as they took their places in the palace
car, "you have not seen the last of your New York friends. You shall
spend winters there before you are many years older. I have only to
_emphasize myself_ in Thebes, and then we shall seek larger pastures."
"But hasn't this trip cost you a great deal of money, Ed?"
"Well, it hasn't impoverished me, at any rate," he answered, with his
queer smile. "Perhaps that is because I am not altogether the
paymaster."
But he did not explain.