t civilities. I fancy that a
humming-bird drowned in honey must experience sensations very similar to
mine in her presence. Is it not the Chinese who serve as the greatest of
delicacies a lump of ice rolled in hot pastry? The condiment with which
she feeds my vanity reminds me of this singular and paradoxical dainty.
If you penetrate the warm, sugared, outer crust, you find ice within.
But, as my uncle does not anticipate Chinese diet at the table of the
marchioness, he desires me to accept her invitation; and, as you are
invited, I wish _you_ to do the same, that I may have some familiar face
near me."

"Gaston de Bois will be there," returned Maurice, "and so will the young
American student, Ronald Walton, whom I presented to you; they are my
dearest friends; pray let them represent me, little cousin."

But Bertha was obstinate; her character had a strong tincture of
wilfulness, the result of invariably having her pleasure consulted, and
always obtaining her own way. She did not relinquish her entreaties
until Maurice, who had not lived long enough to be skilled in the art of
successfully denying the petition of a person who will take no refusal,
or of plucking the waspish sting out of a "no," consented to be present
at the dinner.

The Marquis de Fleury had learned, through his secretary, that
Mademoiselle Merrivale and her guardian were in Paris. Though the
matrimonial proposition of the marchioness on behalf of her brother, the
Duke de Montauban, had been so unfavorably received by Bertha's
relatives in Brittany, and though Bertha herself, when she met the duke
at the Chateau de Tremazan, had treated him somewhat coldly, the young
duke was too much enamored of the fair girl herself,--to say nothing of
a tender leaning towards her attractive fortune,--to be discouraged by a
passing rebuff. His relatives hailed the anticipated opportunity of
making the acquaintance of Bertha's guardian, and were prompt in paying
their devoirs. An invitation to dine followed quickly on the footsteps
of the visit.

We pass over the days that preceded the one appointed for the dinner
party; they were unmarked by incidents which demand to be recorded.

The bond of intimacy between Ronald and Maurice was drawn closer and
closer each day. Little by little the latter had communicated the
history of his own trials; his father's determined opposition to his
embracing a professional career; his attachment to Madeleine; her
unaccountable