was easily carried through. After the
requisite preliminaries of shy evasion and coy resistance, the supposed
fair one was led triumphantly to the supper-table,--the mask was
removed, the secret exposed, and for ten humiliating days De Berniers
was the laugh of the town.

It may be supposed that his peevishness was not diminished by the loss
of a second public wager; but his opponent had been wounded, and that
afforded him some comfort. Besides, he was still confident of winning
his revenge, so he stifled his angry feelings, and renewed the request
that De Montalvan would accompany him to Nantes. De Montalvan was moody,
and swore he would go and join Montcalm in Canada. But his own
recollection of the charms of Mademoiselle de Terville, added to the
solicitations of De Berniers,--who was all unconscious that they had
ever known one another,--induced him to change his resolution, and he
half graciously consented.

Virginie de Terville, as has been said, was a different being, not only
in the freshness and bloom of her beauty, but also by virtue of her
domestic education, from the artificial goddesses of the Parisian sphere
with whom she had been thrown into temporary contact. But her visit had
not been long enough to reveal to her what lay beneath the glittering
exterior of life at court. Her cautious uncle had cut short their
sojourn at what he deemed a judicious period, and brought his ward back
to the tranquil old chateau near Nantes, not entirely, it must be
admitted, to her satisfaction. The splendors of the capital had just
begun to fascinate her, and, what was more, she had been loath to think
that that last brief interview with the handsome and eccentric captain,
who had seen so much and told what he had seen so well, might never be
repeated. Not that she cared to hear anything beyond his strange tales
of adventure. Indeed no. He had lightly touched upon one or two other
topics, during that same last interview, and she was sorry she had not
checked him. Yet she _did_ wonder what ever had become of him, and
really would have been glad to know the result of his long journey
through the tropical Indian forests with that beautiful Rajah's daughter
of whom he had begun to tell her.

But these ideas did not occur to Virginie until after she had left
Paris. While there, the constant succession of gayeties left no room for
other than merry thoughts. She was a belle of high distinction,--an
heiress, and a lovely one. F