Bluebeard did, and then make a voyage of exploration."

"You will not be repaid for your trouble," he said, smiling. But he was vexed. I could see it.

"I don't see why your rooms are at one side of the house and mine at the other, Arthur," I said. "It's very unsociable, I am sure."

"Nonsense," was my husband's testy response. " Every man ought to have a den of his own, in which he can smoke, or read, or write."

"I know it," was my prompt rejoinder, "but, though it is an odious thing to say, I could have permitted you to smoke in my boudoir."

"You are not your mother's daughter," he said, laughing rather uneasily.

Arthur then introduced me to a young French girl, whom he had engaged as my maid. Marie was certainly a pretty woman, not a bit Gallic to look at. She had honest gray eyes, an excellent complexion, and brown hair. I liked her appearance and thanked Arthur for his thoughtfulness. Since I had entered Tavistock Villa I had seen nothing but evidences of his earnest desire to make my life there pleasant. When we had