little later, they passed a room in which Betty
heard the sound of a machine. “Peep in a mo-
ment, Betty,” Lucia suggested, stopping Betty
as she would have gone more rapidly.

Betty looked in at the open door. There sat
Giovanna at the machine, and there in a chair
beside her sat a dark-haired girl, simply but
neatly dressed, and weaving a needle in and out
in the meshes of some beautiful lace. As the
girls paused, the needle stopped and the girl
turned her head in their direction, to smile at
Lucia.

“You saw us in the mirror, didn't you?” Lucia
asked, stepping within the room. “Betty, see
how wonderfully this lace is being mended. She
is practically making lace where it is torn. This
is my friend Betty Lee, Rose. Betty--” but the
Countess Coletti was at the door and spoke.

“Girls, run right down, please. Uncle wants
to see you, Lucia.”

With a smile at the “Rose,” who was about to
be more fully introduced to her, she supposed,
Betty followed Lucia downstairs, while the
countess went into the sewing room. “I thought
I'd surprise you, Betty, though I almost forgot
it,” said Lucia.

“You certainly did! That is the face that we
saw at the window when we went carolling?”

[[237]]

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