ers of a lady. A certain vehemence, exasperation, unrepose
distinguished all she said and did. The footman refused her admission;
Lord Pharanx, he said, was invisible. She persisted violently, pushed
past him, and had to be forcibly ejected; during all which the voice of
the master was heard roaring from the passage red-eyed remonstrance at
the unusual noise. She went away gesticulating wildly, and vowing
vengeance on Lord Pharanx and all the world. It was afterwards found
that she had taken up her abode in one of the neighbouring hamlets,
called Lee.

'This person, who gave the name of Maude Cibras, subsequently called at
the Hall three times in succession, and was each time refused
admittance. It was now, however, thought advisable to inform Randolph
of her visits. He said she might be permitted to see him, if she
returned. This she did on the next day, and had a long interview in
private with him. Her voice was heard raised as if in angry protest by
one Hester Dyett, a servant of the house, while Randolph in low tones
seemed to try to soothe her. The conversation was in French, and no
word could be made out. She passed out at length, tossing her head
jauntily, and smiling a vulgar triumph at the footman who had before
opposed her ingress. She was never known to seek admission to the house
again.

'But her connection with its inmates did not cease. The same Hester
asserts that one night, coming home late through the park, she saw two
persons conversing on a bench beneath the trees, crept behind some
bushes, and discovered that they were the strange woman and Randolph.
The same servant bears evidence to tracking them to other
meeting-places, and to finding in the letter-bag letters addressed to
Maude Cibras in Randolph's hand-writing. One of these was actually
unearthed later on. Indeed, so engrossing did the intercourse become,
that it seems even to have interfered with the outburst of radical zeal
in the new political convert. The _rendezvous_--always held under cover
of darkness, but naked and open to the eye of the watchful
Hester--sometimes clashed with the science lectures, when these latter
would be put off, so that they became gradually fewer, and then almost
ceased.'

'Your narrative becomes unexpectedly interesting,' said Zaleski; 'but
this unearthed letter of Randolph's--what was in it?'

I read as follows:

'"Dear Mdlle. Cibras,--I am exerting my utmost influence for you with
my father. But he shows