Page:C Q, or, In the Wireless House (Train, 1912).djvu/217

 fascinating man they had ever met. Out forward the immigrants were gyrating in circumscribed circles to the accompaniment of an accordion playing “Waltz me around again Willie! ’round and ’round and ’round!” The bow rose and fell slowly on the long surge How happy they were! And they were going to a life of drudgery,—in sweat-shops, kitchens, or Minnesota farms! Lily shuddered! Thirty thousand dollars!

“Fantine!” she called sharply.

“Oui, Madame,” answered the maid, obediently appearing out of the recesses of the stateroom.

“I wish you to put my necklace in a cardboard box, if you can find one, and do it up carefully in a piece of paper.”

“Oui, Madame,” replied Fantine. “I can use the box for Madame’s ruching.”

“Yes, that will do,” said Lily. “Mind you tie it up neatly, in the smallest possible parcel.”

When Fantine was gone Lily lay back and with half-shut eyes watched the horizon turn from rose to purple, and from purple to slate. Strands of mackerel cloud barred the western sky drawn together in a focus at the point