Her high-heeled shoes came down with a click upon the tiled floor of the loggia at every swing forward of her American rocking-chair. As Mrs. Delamere’s nerves had been tried of late, she rose, after some wincing, and prepared to enter the drawing-room. Three years’ chaperonage of Minna had brought their wear and tear upon the system; and Minna’s character had decidedly not softened. They had, however, remained excellent friends, and had formed a cold, cynical attachment to each other. The pulling up of a carriage in the court-yard below drew Mrs. Delamere to the balustrade. “If you are really going to Monte Carlo, you had better make haste, or you will miss the 10.55. There is the carriage.” Minna stopped her rocking, and lay back in the chair in a lazy attitude. “I wish I hadn’t told Boissy I would come.” “So do I. He’s a bit of a cad. It won’t do you any good to placard yourself about with him.” “Because he tells improper stories?” “On a fortnight’s acquaintance,” said Mrs. Delamere. “Well, he’s the only man I have met who can tell you them without making you feel bound to blush. Blushing is a nuisance. In fact everything in the world is a nuisance. I wish I were out of it.” “You would scarcely find your way to a better one,” remarked the elder lady suavely. “Who knows?” said Minna. “This is pretty bad. Here all the virtuous are deadly dull and despise me. All those who seek me out and amuse me are vicious and vulgar. I hate the sight of Boissy.” “Don’t you think you had better spend a quiet day here, for a change--send a telegram to Boissy?” “Oh, lord! I should go crazy if I sat here doing nothing all day. It is punishment for my sins, I suppose.” “Do as you like, my dear,” said Mrs. Delamere. “Only, if you go, keep your wits about you.” “I can command the services of better looking animals than Boissy, if I want to compromise myself,” retorted Minna. “He looks as if he came out of the Bon Marché. But he’ll give me the best _déjeuner_ in Monte Carlo.” “It is getting late, Mademoiselle,” said Justine, appearing on the loggia with an anxious face. Minna rose sighing, and followed the maid indoors. A short while afterwards, Mrs. Delamere saw her charge, attired in a daffodil-yellow dress and a showy straw hat, a wilderness of bows and flowers, drive off buttoning her long gloves. “She is overdoing it,” she murmured to herself, as she kissed the tips of her fingers to Minna. “She will be wearing her diamonds in the daytime next. I’m glad I’m not a disappointed Jewess.”