King's arm, "will you do me the favour
to try to come at some future time--to consider your plans before you
return to America, and see if you can't manage to give me this great
pleasure of welcoming you to my home? Think of it, I beg, and drop me a
line; if at home, I shall always be most glad to have you with me. I
should esteem it a privilege." The Earl of Cavendish was astonished to
find himself beseeching the American gentleman without a title. And
then they awaked to the fact that the groups of passengers were merging
into a solid mass, and a slow procession was beginning to form for the
stairway, and the landing episode was well under way.
Mrs. Vanderburgh, determined not to bid good-by on the steamer but to
be with the Kings till the last moment, rushed up to them on the wharf,
followed by Fanny.
"Oh, we are _so_ sorry you are not going to Paris with us," cried
Mrs. Vanderburgh, while Fanny flew at Polly Pepper and engrossed her
hungrily. "Can't you reconsider it now?" she asked, with a pretty
earnestness.
"No, it is impossible," answered Mr. King, for about the fiftieth time.
"Our plans will not allow it. I hope you and your daughter will have
the best of times," he remarked politely.
"Yes, we shall; we meet old friends there, and Paris is always
delightful." Mrs. Vanderburgh bit her lip in her vexation. "I was going
to see you and beg you even now to change your plans, while we were on
the steamer waiting to land," she went on hurriedly, "but you were
bored--I quite pitied you--by that tiresome, common, old Mr.
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