Eleanor read the note several times, then walked thoughtfully over to her desk. DEAREST MRS. WINTHROP: [she wrote] It is awful. I will come as soon as possible. Devotedly, ELEANOR. "Give this to Fugi, Annette, then come back and pack my small steamer trunk," as the maid hastened out of the room; she picked up a silk waist preparatory to putting it on, but her _toilette_ was doomed to another interruption. "Well, my dear, may I come in?" asked a pleasant voice from the doorway. "Indeed you may, Cousin Kate," Eleanor stepped across the room and kissed the older woman affectionately. Mrs. Truxton's ruddy face lighted with an affectionate smile as she returned her greeting. She did not altogether approve of her young cousin, many of her "foreign ways" as she termed it, offended her, but Eleanor's lovable disposition had won a warm place in her regard. Mrs. Truxton seated herself in one of the comfortable lounging chairs and contemplated the disheveled room and Eleanor's oriental silk dressing gown with disapproval. "Do you know the time?" she inquired pointedly. "Nearly one," answered Eleanor, as she discarded her dressing gown for a silk waist. "Lunch will soon be ready. I hope you have a good appetite." "Yes, thank you; _I've_ been out all the morning," reproachfully. "Mrs. Douglas has asked me to dine with her this evening, and, I think, Eleanor, if it will not interfere with your arrangements, that I will accept the invitation." "Do so by all means," exclaimed Eleanor heartily. "I hope she won't talk you deaf, dumb, and blind." "She is rather long-winded," admitted Mrs. Truxton, tranquilly. "On the telephone this morning she took up twenty minutes telling me of the arrival here of her nephew, Douglas Hunter--good gracious, child----" as Eleanor's silver powder box rolled on the floor with a loud bang--"how you startle one." "I beg your pardon," Eleanor was some seconds picking it up, for her fingers fumbled clumsily. "What were you saying, Cousin Kate?" replacing the silver on the dressing table. "Mercy, child, how inattentive you are! I was only remarking that Douglas Hunter is no stranger to Washington. He was raised here, as he belongs to one of the first families of Georgetown." "I never heard of a 'second' family in Georgetown," smiled Eleanor; then, seeing her cousin's offended expression, she hastily changed the subject. "Have you heard the shocking news of Senator Carew's--" she hesitated for a moment--"tragic death?" "Indeed I have. Washington is talking of nothing else. Why are you packing, Annette?" as the servant entered. "Mrs. Winthrop has just written and asked me to spend a few days with them," explained Eleanor hurriedly, "so suppose you invite Miss Crane to stay with you in my absence." "Of course you cannot very well decline to go," said Mrs. Truxton thoughtfully. "Still, I hate to have you mixed up in such an affair, Eleanor."