was true enough. Several buttons were
missing, and the collar hung by a thread.

"That can be easily remedied," said she. "There are several new hussar
uniforms in the armory."

"O, Madame, and you will permit me to wear one of those gay uniforms of
light blue and silver lace?"

The Colonel looked thoughtfully at Maurice. He was too much a banterer
himself to miss the undercurrent of raillery. He eyed Madame discreetly;
he saw that she had accepted merely the surface tones.

"And you will wear one, too, Jack?" said Maurice.

"No, thank you. I pass my word, Madame; I do not like confinement."

"Well, then, the count will shortly return and establish you in better
quarters. Let us suppose you are my guests for a--a fortnight. Since
both of us are right, since neither your cause nor mine is wrong,
an armistice! Ah! I forgot. The east corridor on the third floor is
forbidden you. Should you mistake and go that way, a guard will direct
you properly. Messieurs, till dinner!" and with a smile which illumined
her face as a sudden burst of sunshine flashes across a hillside, she
passed out of the room, followed by her henchman, who had not yet put
aside the thoughtful repose of his countenance.

"A house party," said Maurice, when he could no longer hear their
footsteps. "And what the deuce have they got so valuable in the east
corridor on the third floor?"

"It's small matter to me," said Fitzgerald tranquilly. "The main fact is
that she has given up her game."

Said Maurice, his face expressing both pity and astonishment: "My dear,
dear John! Didn't you see that woman's eyes, her hair, her chin, her
nose?"

"Well?"

"True; you haven't had any experience with petticoats. This woman will
rend heaven and earth rather than relinquish her projects, or rather
those of her mistress. I should like to see this duchess, who shows a
fine discernment in the selection of her assistants. Beware of the
woman who is frankly your enemy. If she is frank, it is because she is
confident of the end; if not, she is frank in order to disarm us of the
suspicion of cunning. I would give much to know the true meaning of this
house party."

"Hang me if I can see what difference it makes. She can not do anything
either by frankness or by cunning."

"She gathered us in neatly, this red-haired Amazon."

"Red-haired!" in a kind of protest.

"Why, yes; that's the color, isn't it?" innocently.

"I thought it a red-brown. It's too bad that