ecause of your inexperience and his weakness, which may prove a source
of trouble to you."

"If he is weak, all the better; my will can guide him."

"You are wrong," replied her father, "as many other women have been
before you. You believe that weak and vacillating dispositions are
easily controlled, but I tell you that this is an error. Only determined
characters can be influenced, and it is on substantial foundations that
we find support."

Flavia made no reply, and her father drew her closer to him.

"Listen to me, my child," said he. "You will never have a better friend
than I am. You know that I would shed every drop of blood in my veins
for you. He is coming, so search your heart to discover if this is not
some mere passing fancy."

"Father!" cried she.

"Remember that your happiness is in your own hands now, so be careful
and conceal your feelings, and do not let him discover how deep your
love is for him. Men's minds are so formed that while they blame a woman
for duplicity, they complain far more if she acts openly and allows her
feelings to be seen----"

He paused, for the door-bell rang. Flavia's heart gave a bound of
intense joy.

"He has come!" gasped she, and, with a strong effort to retain her
composure, she added, "I will obey you, my dear father; I will not come
here again until I have entirely regained my composure. Do not fear, and
I will show you that your daughter can act a part as well as any other
woman."

She fled from the room as the door opened, but it was not Paul who made
his appearance, but some other guests--a stout manufacturer and his
wife, the latter gorgeously dressed, but with scarcely a word to say for
herself. For this evening the banker had issued invitations to twenty of
his friends, and among this number Paul would scarcely be noticed. He in
due time made his appearance with Dr. Hortebise, who had volunteered to
introduce him into good society. Paul felt ill at ease; he had just
come from the hands of a fashionable tailor, who, thanks to Mascarin's
influence, had in forty-eight hours prepared an evening suit of such
superior cut that the young man hardly knew himself in it. Paul had
suffered a good deal from conflicting emotions after the visit to Van
Klopen's, and more than once regretted the adhesion that he had given
to Mascarin's scheme; but a visit the next day from Hortebise, and the
knowledge that the fashionable physician was one of the confederates,
had recon