This, however, was not so easy a task, and Clarice sat up half the night to accomplish it. Three different copies she wrote and three times tore them up; then wrote at last that she was very glad to hear from him (which was not true) and glad that he intended to refund her money (which was true). She was to be married in August, and had she known where a letter would find him she should have written to him, of course. This was her second lie, but, being fairly under way, she did not hesitate to tell another and say that the grand affair of which he had heard was a mistake. She was to be married quietly, with a few friends present, and it was hardly worth his coming so far for so small a matter. When the invitations were out she should send him one and hoped to see him on her wedding trip, as they were going to the Pacific coast by way of Helena and should stop at Samona if he were there, as she trusted he would be. He could take her through the mines and the cañons. Paul would enjoy it so much. She made no mention of Elithe except to say she had met her two or three times. She closed with “Yours affectionately till I meet you in Samona. Will let you know when to expect us. CLARICE PERCY.” That trip to the Pacific by way of Helena was born in her brain as she wrote. They had talked of the Canadian route to Victoria and then by steamer to San Francisco, with no thought of Helena or Samona. But they might change their minds and call on Jack if he proved quiescent and staid where he was. She could easily persuade Paul to go wherever she wished to go. On the whole, she was rather pleased with her effort, and had not told a very big falsehood unless it were with regard to the quiet wedding with a few friends. “And it is to be quiet compared with what I meant to have had in Washington, and of those who will attend only a few will be real friends; the rest will be here to see and be seen and criticise,” she said to herself, trying to ease her conscience as she folded and directed the letter which was to bear so bitter fruit. CHAPTER XXII. THE WALTZ.