ful. All the people
I have met who have heard her declare they have never known anything
like her playing. And the funniest part of it is, she is accompanied
everywhere by a man who is as physically repulsive as she is beautiful."

"A little old man with an extraordinary complexion, deep-set, horrible
eyes, who wears a fur coat and a peculiar cap in the height of the
season, and looks at least a hundred years old?"

"From all accounts you describe him exactly. Where did you meet him?"

"I saw them both at the Academy this afternoon," I answered. "She is, as
you say, very beautiful; but she scarcely struck me as being English."

"She is not. She is Hungarian, I believe, but she has travelled a great
deal and speaks English perfectly."

"And her companion--what nation has the honour of claiming him as her
son?"

"Ah, that I can not tell you! He is a mystery, for no one seems to know
anything about him. Nor is it at all certain what relationship he bears
to the woman. But see, here is Lord Medenham. The performance is
evidently about to commence."

As he spoke there was a general turning of heads in the direction of the
anteroom, and almost simultaneously my hostess entered the room,
accompanied by the exquisite creature I had seen emerging from the crowd
before my picture that afternoon. If she had looked beautiful then, she
was doubly so now. Dressed to perfection, as on the previous occasion,
she towered head and shoulders above Lady Medenham, who is generally
considered tall for her sex, and carried herself with a more imperial
grace than is boasted by any empress I have ever seen.

A few paces behind her followed the man who had been her companion that
afternoon. On this occasion also he disdained the orthodox style of
dress, wore a black velvet coat, closely buttoned beneath his chin, and
upon his head a skullcap of the same material. As on the previous
occasions, he walked with a stick, leaning upon it heavily like an old
man of ninety. Reaching that portion of the room in which the piano was
situated, he dropped into a chair, without waiting for his hostess to
seat herself, and, laying his head back, closed his eyes as if the
exertion of walking had been too much for him. A servant, who had
followed close behind, wrapped a heavy rug about his knees and then
withdrew. Meanwhile his beautiful companion stood for a moment looking
down at him, and then, with a little gesture the significance of which I
could n