entanglements, and an empty purse. Which will
win, with Nina for the cup and Gordon for the umpire?

IV.

MISCHIEF.

"Qui cherchez-vous, petite?"

The speaker was la Melusine, and the hearer was Nina who considerably
resented the half-patronising, half mocking, yet intensely amiable
manner the widow chose to assume towards her. Gordon was stricken with
warm admiration of madame, and never inquired into _her_ morality, only
too pleased when she condescended to talk to or invite him. They had met
at a soiree at some intimate friends of Vaughan's in the Champs Elysees.
(Ernest was a favorite wherever he went, and the good-natured French
people at once took up his relatives to please him.) He was not there
himself, but the baronne's quick eyes soon caught and construed her
restless glances through the crowded rooms.

"Je ne cherche personne, madame," said Nina, haughtily. Dressed simply
in white tulle, with the most exquisite flowers to be had out of the
Palais Royal in the famous golden hair, which gleamed in the gaslight
like sunshine, she aroused the serpent which lay hid in the roses of
madame's smiles.

Pauline laughed softly, and flirted her fan. "Nay, nay, mignonne, those
soft eyes are seeking some one. Who is it? Ah! it is that mechant
Monsieur Vaughan n'est-ce pas? He is very handsome, certainly, but

On dit an village
Qu'Argire est volage."

"Madame's own thoughts possibly suggest the supposition of mine," said
Nina, coldly.

"Comme ces Anglaises sont impolies," thought the baronne. "No, indeed,"
she said, laughing carelessly, "I know Ernest too well to let my
thoughts dwell on him. He is charming to talk to, to waltz with, to
flirt with, but from anything further Dieu nous garde! Lauzun himself
were not more dangerous or more unstable."

"You speak as bitterly, madame, as if you had suffered from the
fickleness," said Nina, with a contemptuous curl of her soft lips. Sweet
temper as she was, she could thrust a spear in her enemy's side when she
liked.

Madame's eyes glittered like a rattlesnake's. Nina's chance ball shot
home. But madame was a woman of the world, and could mask her batteries
with a skill of which Nina, with her impetuous _abandon_, was incapable.
She smiled very sweetly, as she answered, "No, petite I have unhappily
seen too much of the world not to know that we must never put our trust
in those charming mauvais sujets. At your age, I dare say I should not
have been pr