He apologized presently for his long stay. He so seldom made calls, that he must plead ignorance of the correct length, but he had enjoyed himself very much. And then M. de Ronville invited him to drop in to tea. He would like to discuss some new medical methods with him. "A very intelligent, well-balanced young man," the host remarked. "If the other one is as sensible, they are sons to be proud of." "Their mother _is_ proud of them, but their father would rather have had them in business," said Daffodil. Belinda Pemberton was quite fascinated with Daffodil. "You are such a sweet, quaint, honest little thing," she said, "and you do make such delightfully naïve remarks. And Arthur declares you must have learned to dance in fairyland." "I think I did," she returned gayly. "And I do love it so." Then the little circle, and the wider one, had a fine surprise. Betty Wharton, now Madame Clerval, returned quite unexpectedly, as her husband had resigned his position. "I had quite enough of Paris," she said to a friend. "One wants an immense fortune to truly enjoy it. And somehow things seem shaky. Then, too, one does have a longing for home when one gets past youth." So she opened her house and set up a carriage. Monsieur Clerval found himself quite in demand by the government, as the country needed a multitude of counsellors. She came in to see M. de Ronville, who gallantly said she had renewed her youth, and begged for the secret. "It is simply to keep young, to resolve _not_ to grow old;" with a gay emphasis. "But time passes, my dear lady." "And where is that pretty, golden-haired Daffodil?" she enquired. The girl was summoned. Yes, she had outgrown childhood, but there was a delightful charm in her young womanhood. "We were such friends--if you can remember so far back." "And you were so good to me, and made everything so enjoyable. Wasn't I very ignorant?" "You were very frank, and honest, and adaptable. So we must take up the old intimacy again. M. de Ronville, I shall drop in often and say, 'Lend me your daughter for this or that occasion.' Or is it your niece? And if some one falls in love with her you must not scold me. Young men have eyes, and really, I am too kindly-hearted to throw dust in them." Daffodil turned scarlet. "Is it quite right to go about so much?" she said to M. de Ronville afterward, and the tone had a great uncertainty in it, while the curves of her pretty mouth quivered. "For you know----" He drew her down beside him on the sofa. "I thought some time we would talk it over--your unfortunate marriage, I suppose, comes up now and then to haunt you. Yet, it was fortunate, too, that the explanation came just as it did. I honestly believe it was an ignorant child's fancy. You were not old enough to understand real love. I think he could hardly have been a thorough villain, but an incident like this has happened more than once. And I truly believe you have overlived it."