nd seldom bothers his
head about the toast as long as the wine is good. Permit me to withdraw
the duchess and substitute yourself."

"Do so, if it will please you. In truth, it was bad taste in you, count,
to suggest it."

"It's all the same to me;" and the Colonel refilled his glass and
nodded.

The countess smiled behind her fan, while Maurice felt the edge of the
mild reproach which had been administered to him.

"I plead guilty to the impeachment. It was very wrong. Far from it that
I should drink to the health of the Philistines. Madame the countess was
beating me down with her eyes, and I did not think."

"I was not even looking at you!" declared the countess, blushing.

The incident was soon forgotten; and at length Madame and the countess
rose.

Said the first: "We will leave you gentlemen to your cigars; and when
they have ceased to interest you, you will find us in the music room."

"And you will sing?" said Maurice to the countess.

"If you wish." She was almost beautiful when she smiled, and she smiled
on Maurice.

"I confess," said he, "that being a prisoner, under certain
circumstances, is a fine life."

"What wicked eyes he has," said the countess, as she and Madame entered
the music room.

"Do not look into them too often, my dear," was the rejoinder. "I have
asked not other sacrifice than that you should occupy his attention and
make him fall in love with you."

"Ah, Madame, that will be easy enough. But what is to prevent me from
falling in love with him? He is very handsome."

"You are laughing!"

"Yes, I am laughing. It will be such an amusing adventure, a souvenir
for my old age--and may my old age forget me."

The men lit their cigars and smoked in silence.

"Colonel," said Maurice at last, "will you kindly tell me what all this
means?"

"Never ask your host how old his wine is. If he is proud of it, he will
tell you." He blew the smoke under the candle shades and watched it as
it darted upward. "Don't you find it comfortable? I should."

"Conscience will not lie down at one's bidding."

"I understood that you were a diplomat?" The Colonel turned to
Fitzgerald. "I hope that, when you are liberated, you will forget the
manner in which you were brought here."

"I shall forget nothing," curtly.

"The devil! I can not fight you; I am too old."

Fitzgerald said nothing, and continued to play with his emptied
wine-glass.

"The Princess Alexia," went on the Colonel, "has a