lf all instincts towards the opposite
sex, with a resolution that would not have disgraced a much stronger
man. By this habit, maintained with fair success, a chamber of his
nature had been preserved intact during many later years, like the
one solitary sealed-up cell occasionally retained by bees in a lobe of
drained honey-comb. And thus, though he had irretrievably exhausted the
relish of society, of ambition, of action, and of his profession, the
love-force that he had kept immured alive was still a reproducible
thing.

The sight of Paula in her graceful performance, which the judicious
Dare had so carefully planned, led up to and heightened by subtle
accessories, operated on De Stancy's surprised soul with a promptness
almost magical.

On the evening of the self-same day, having dined as usual, he retired
to his rooms, where he found a hamper of wine awaiting him. It had been
anonymously sent, and the account was paid. He smiled grimly, but no
longer with heaviness. In this he instantly recognized the handiwork of
Dare, who, having at last broken down the barrier which De Stancy
had erected round his heart for so many years, acted like a skilled
strategist, and took swift measures to follow up the advantage so
tardily gained.

Captain De Stancy knew himself conquered: he knew he should yield to
Paula--had indeed yielded; but there was now, in his solitude, an hour
or two of reaction. He did not drink from the bottles sent. He went
early to bed, and lay tossing thereon till far into the night, thinking
over the collapse. His teetotalism had, with the lapse of years,
unconsciously become the outward and visible sign to himself of
his secret vows; and a return to its opposite, however mildly done,
signified with ceremonious distinctness the formal acceptance of
delectations long forsworn.

But the exceeding freshness of his feeling for Paula, which by reason of
its long arrest was that of a man far under thirty, and was a wonder
to himself every instant, would not long brook weighing in balances. He
wished suddenly to commit himself; to remove the question of retreat
out of the region of debate. The clock struck two: and the wish became
determination. He arose, and wrapping himself in his dressing-gown went
to the next room, where he took from a shelf in the pantry several large
bottles, which he carried to the window, till they stood on the sill a
goodly row. There had been sufficient light in the room for him to