ittle pale woman with the turquoise ornaments?" asked Lady
Grace.

"The Princess Labanoff," said his Lordship, blandly bowing.

"Not she who was suspected of having poisoned--"

"The same."

"I should like to know her. And the man,--who is that tall, dark man,
with the high forehead?"

"Glumthal, the great Frankfort millionnaire."

"Oh, present him, by all means. Let us have him here," said Lady
Lackington, eagerly. "What does that little man mean by smirking in that
fashion,--who is he?" asked she, as Mr. O'Reilly passed and repassed
before her, making some horrible grimaces that he intended to have
represented as fascinations.

"On no account, my Lord," said Lady Lackington, as though replying to a
look of entreaty from his Lordship.

"But you 'd really be amused," said he, smiling. "It is about the best
bit of low comedy--"

"I detest low comedy."

"The father of your fair friends, is it not?" asked Lady Grace,
languidly.

"Yes. Twining admires them vastly," said his Lordship, half maliciously.
"If I might venture--"

"Oh dear, no; not to me," said Lady Grace, shuddering. "I have little
tolerance for what are called characters. You may present your Hebrew
friend, if you like."

"He's going to dance with the Princess; and there goes Twining, with one
of my beauties, I declare," said Lord Lackington. "I say, Spicer, what
is that dark lot, near the door?"

"American trotters, my Lord; just come over."

"You know them, don't you?"

"I met them yesterday at dinner, and shall be delighted to introduce
your Lordship. Indeed, they asked me if you were not the Lord that was
so intimate with the Prince of Wales."

"How stupid! They might have known, even without the aid of a Peerage,
that I was a schoolboy when the Prince was a grown man. The tall girl is
good-looking; what's her name?"

"She's the daughter of the Honorable Leonidas Shinbone, that's all I
know,--rather a belle at Saratoga, I fancy."

"Very dreadful!" sighed Lady Grace, fanning herself; "they do make such
a mess of what might be very pretty toilette. You could n't tell her,
perhaps, that her front hair is dressed for the back of the head."

"No, sir; I never play at cards," said Lord Lackington, stiffly, as an
American gentleman offered him a pack to draw from.

"Only a little bluff or a small party of poker," said the stranger, "for
quarter dollars, or milder, if you like it."

A cold bow of refusal was the reply.

"I told you h