ve for him was dead,
she felt, and when he lingered for another embrace, she wondered that he
could not see her heart was cold and unmoved. She smiled as he left.
"Foolish fellow," she thought, "he has never known the true warmth of my
heart so he will be content with the cold effigy of love I give him."
However, the words seemed very harsh, even to her, and she wondered if
it really were she who had spoken them. Inspired by a curiosity to see
if she had changed during the day, she looked at herself in the long
mirror of her dressing-room and felt a secret pleasure in the thought
that the image before her was that of a woman of the world to whom none
of the experiences of life were strange. She thought her face showed
more character, too, and she flattered herself that it would not be easy
for anyone to read her thoughts in those deep, black eyes.

The little clock on her dressing-table struck half-past six,
and she rang for her maid to dress her hair. After spending an
hour-and-a-quarter at her toilet, she again arose and surveyed herself
in the long mirror. Her pulses seemed, somehow, to be beating more
rapidly now, and the calmness she had felt before was deserting her. The
sense of fear came into her heart again, and even her conscience uttered
a faint remonstrance at the step she was taking. She thought over all
the chances of discovery and wondered whether there was danger from the
servants. Her cook and her butler were both French and, as they could
speak but a few words of English, would say nothing; the footman and
housemaids she had permitted to go out, and she felt that she could
trust the discretion of her own maid. As for her neighbors, the people
living next door were not of her set, and she drew a breath of relief on
looking out of the window and finding that, owing to a cloudy sky, it
was already nearly dark. Still she was far from calm, and, thinking she
looked pale, she pinched her cheeks to bring color into them.

It was time for Duncan to arrive. Should she feign illness and send him
away? She felt that it was too late for her to turn back now, and the
thought of Duncan brought back memories which, for the moment, drove
fear completely from her heart, and aroused the reckless spirit which
had already carried her so far. She took a hasty glance at herself in
the glass, gave a final touch to her hair, and hurried down the stairway
to the little French room where she had been with Duncan on the
afterno