a captivating smile. "I will visit your church in the morning, and you will return to luncheon with me, and we will have a little game of billiards afterward."
Mr. Cole's delicate face grew ashy. He, John Chrysostom Cole, playing billiards on Sunday! What would his mother say—and what would the bishop say! Olivia looked a little shocked because of course Madame Koller must know better. Not so the Colonel. He laughed heartlessly at Mr. Cole, and began to think Eliza Peyton was a more amusing person than he had fancied.
"Madame Koller," began Mr. Cole solemnly after a moment, "your long absence from this country—your unfamiliarity with clergymen perhaps—and with the American Sabbath—"
"Oh, yes, I remember the American Sabbath very well," replied Madame Koller laughing and raising her eyebrows. "My aunt, Mrs. Peyton, always took me to church with her, and I had to listen to Dr. Steptoe's sermons. Oh those sermons! However," she added, turning her expressive eyes full on Mr. Cole. "I know, I know yours must be very different. Well, I will go. And forgive me, if I sometimes shock you—forgive and pity me."
Mr. Cole thought that only a heart of stone could have hardened against that pretty appeal. And the widow was so deliciously charming with her half-foreign manner and her whole-foreign look. But billiards on Sunday!
