Page:The Tattooed Countess (1924).pdf/75

 Dear Ella, she said, kissing the Countess, how long it has been! How could you stay away so long?

I've grown so used to Paris, Mayme, the Countess explained.

I know, I know. Paris is charming. The Louvre is magnificent, but, after all, there's no place like home, and in all my travels I've never found a town of its size to compare with Maple Valley. The improvements. ..

I must see the water-works! Ella cried desperately.

And you'll stay until the new depot is built and the brick paving is laid. We've quite a lot of improvements projected. We have a very progressive mayor now and the Ladies' Aid Society and the Ladies' Home Study Club do a great deal for the city. We could do more if women could vote.

There I am not with you, intercepted Miss Darrell, who had been standing near with the hope that eventually she might force an opening in the conversation; I believe woman's place to be the home.

After this very daring attack on Mrs. Townsend, the recoiled perceptibly.

Indeed, Miss Darrell! Mrs. Townsend adjusted her lorgnette and stared at the intruder.

The room now appeared to the Countess to be a sort of bedlam. It did not seem to her that she had ever before heard so many people chattering