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She listened; seemed thinking deeply. "You are not pleased to be there?" Keenly. "I? Oh, of course!" Quickly. She did not appear to note his changed manner. "This Miss Van Rolsen, isn't she the one whose niece Miss Elizabeth Dalrymple recently refused the hand and heart of a Russian prince?" she said musingly. "Refused?" he cried suddenly.
Yes; that might be it the reason for her temporary silence; the house was full of valuable things; sooner or later "Are you quite satisfied, Madam, with my services?" said Mr. Heatherbloom that afternoon to Miss Van Rolsen. "You seem to do well enough," she answered shortly. He brightened. "Perhaps some one else would do better." "Perhaps," she returned dryly. "But I'm not going to try."
"But by what unfortunate combination of circumstances" Miss Van Rolsen spoke somewhat incoherently "should these people have been led to settle on my niece as the victim of their cowardly designs? There are so many others " "You forget the publicity concerning this prince your niece is to marry." The old lady stiffened.
The hours passed, and he was suffered to go about the even, or uneven, tenor of his way. This he did mechanically; he scrubbed and combed Beauty beautifully. With a dire sense of fate knocking at the door, he passed her on to Miss Van Rolsen, to be freshly be-ribboned by that lady's own particular hand.
His duties he performed now as quietly as he could. Two weeks more, ten days, nine, eight! Then? Ah, then! He did not see Miss Van Rolsen again nor Miss Dalrymple. He encountered the fair unknown, though, his acquaintance of the park, occasionally, as she in demure cap and white ruffled apron glided softly her allotted way.
He reappeared at the Van Rolsen house that day without Naughty. Miss Van Rolsen, when she heard the news, burst into tears; then became furious. She was sure he had sold Naughty, winner of three blue ribbons, and "out of the contest" no end of times because superior to all competition! A broken leash! Fiddlesticks! She penned advertisements wildly and summoned her niece.
No doubt, after an interval, Miss Van Rolsen would have news of her niece through those who had perpetrated the outrage; or she might even receive a few written words from the girl herself. After that it was a question of negotiating, or, while professing to deal with the perpetrators, to ferret them out if one could.
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