ortune, ladies and gentlemen, your fortune!" she cried
pleasantly. Then she recognized me, and her manner changed, or I
fancied that it did.

"Ah, Carl, so you've arrived!" she exclaimed, coming forward and
ignoring all her visitors except Marie and myself.

"Yes, Emmeline, dear," said Marie, "we've come. And, please, I want to
see something in the crystal. How do you do it?"

Emmeline glanced around.

"Sullivan said my crystal-gazing would be a failure," she smiled. "But
it isn't, is it? I came in here as soon as I had done receiving, and
I've already had I don't know how many clients. I sha'n't be able to
stop long, you know. The fact is, Sullivan doesn't like me being here
at all. He thinks it not right of the hostess...."

"But it's perfectly charming of you!" some one put in.

"Perfectly delicious!" said Marie.

"Now, who shall I take first?" Emmeline asked, puzzled.

"Oh, me, of course!" Marie Deschamps replied without a hesitation or a
doubt, though she and I had come in last. And the others acquiesced,
because Marie was on the topmost bough of all.

"Come along, then," said Emmeline, relieved.

I made as if to follow them.

"No, Mr. Foster," said Marie. "You just stay here, and don't listen."

The two women disappeared behind the portiere, and a faint giggle,
soon suppressed, came through the portiere from Marie.

I obeyed her orders, but as I had not the advantage of knowing a
single person in that outer room, I took myself off for a stroll, in
the hope of encountering Rosetta Rosa. Yes, certainly in the hope of
encountering Rosetta Rosa! But in none of the thronged chambers did I
discover her.

When I came back, the waiting-room for prospective crystal-gazers was
empty, and Emmeline herself was just leaving it.

"What!" I exclaimed. "All over?"

"Yes," she said; "Sullivan has sent for me. You see, of course, one
has to mingle with one's guests. Only they're really Sullivan's
guests."

"And what about me?" I said. "Am I not going to have a look into the
crystal?"

I had, as a matter of fact, not the slightest interest in her crystal
at that instant. I regarded the crystal as a harmless distraction of
hers, and I was being simply jocular when I made that remark.
Emmeline, however, took it seriously. As her face had changed when
she first saw me in the box at the Opera, and again to-night when she
met me and Marie Deschamps on my arm, so once more it changed now.

"Do you really want to?"