Free to move, as soon as the maid returns, Hortense at once leaves
her modest quarters. The bills are all paid. Their belongings are
packed as for departure. To the Hotel Meurice, by a roundabout
route, mistress and maid repair. Hortense Duval is no more. A new
social birth.
Madame de Santos, in superb apartments, proceeds to arrange her
entree into future social greatness. A modern miracle.
No one has seen the children together in Paris. On the steamer not
a suspicion was raised. Natalie de Santos breathes freely. A few
days of preparation makes Madame "au fait" in the newest fashions.
Her notes, cartes de visite, dazzling "batterie de toilette," and
every belonging bear crest, monogram, and initial of the new-born
Senora Natalie.
Securely lodged in an aristocratic apartment, Madame de Santos
receives her bankers, and the members of the Southern circle,
to whom the Judge has given her the freemasonry of his influence.
Madame de Santos is now a social fact, soon to find her old life a
waning memory. The glittering splendors of the court gaieties are
her everyday enjoyments.
Keenly watching all Californians, protected by her former retirement,
her foreign appearance and glamour of wealth impose on all.
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