s were soft, the air warm and light. A cheerful
hum of voices rose, as of talk enjoyed for talking's sake; and a general
effect of intimacy, or gayety, of an unfeigned social pleasure, seemed
to issue from the charming scene and communicate itself to the onlooker.

And for a few moments, before he was discovered and tumultuously annexed
by a neighboring group, Sir Wilfrid watched the progress of Mademoiselle
Le Breton through the room, with the young Duchess in her wake. Wherever
she moved she was met with smiles, deference, and eager attention. Here
and there she made an introduction, she redistributed a group, she moved
a chair. It was evident that her eye was everywhere, that she knew every
one; her rule appeared to be at once absolute and welcome. Presently,
when she herself accepted a seat, she became, as Sir Wilfrid perceived
in the intervals of his own conversation, the leader of the most
animated circle in the room. The Duchess, with one delicate arm
stretched along the back of Mademoiselle Le Breton's chair, laughed and
chattered; two young girls in virginal white placed themselves on big
gilt footstools at her feet; man after man joined the group that stood
or sat around her; and in the centre of it, the brilliance of her black
head, sharply seen against a background of rose brocade, the grace of
her tall form, which was thin almost to emaciation, the expressiveness
of her strange features, the animation of her gestures, the sweetness of
her voice, drew the eyes and ears of half the room to Lady Henry's
"companion."

Presently there was a movement in the distance. A man in knee-breeches
and silver-buckled shoes emerged from the back drawing-room.
Mademoiselle Le Breton rose at once and went to meet him.

"The Bishop has had a long innings," said an old general to Sir Wilfrid
Bury. "And here is Mademoiselle Julie coming for you."

Sir Wilfrid rose, in obedience to a smiling sign from the lady thus
described, and followed her floating black draperies towards the
farther room.

"Who are those two persons with Lady Henry?" he asked of his guide, as
they approached the _penetralia_ where reigned the mistress of the
house. "Ah, I see!--one is Dr. Meredith--but the other?"

"The other is Captain Warkworth," said Mademoiselle Le Breton. "Do you
know him?"

"Warkworth--Warkworth? Ah--of course--the man who distinguished himself
in the Mahsud expedition. But why is he home again so soon?"

Mademoiselle Le Breto