but firm as marble, did not either hasten or
retard.

"Oh if you insist," he returned lightly, "and are willing to bear the
reflection my unfortunate remark seems to cast upon the sex, I was
merely observing to my nephew, that the man who centered all his hopes
upon a woman's faith, was liable to disappointment. Even if he succeeded
in marrying her there were still possibilities of his repenting any
great sacrifice made in her behalf."

"Indeed!" and for once the delicate cheek flushed deeper than its rouge.
"And why do you say this?" she inquired, dropping her coquettish manner
and flashing upon them both, the haughty and implacable woman Bertram
had always believed her to be, notwithstanding her vagaries and fashion.

"Because I have seen much of life outside my own house," her husband
replied with undiminished courtesy; "and feel bound to warn any young
man of his probable fate, who thinks to find nothing but roses and
felicity beyond the gates of fashionable marriage."

"Ah then, it was on general principles you were speaking," she remarked
with a soft laugh that undulated through an atmosphere suddenly grown
too heavy for easy breathing. "I did not know; wives are so little apt
to be appreciated in this world, Mr. Mandeville, I was afraid he might
be giving you some homely advice founded upon personal experience." And
she moved towards their guest with that strange smile of hers which some
called dangerous but which he had always regarded as oppressive.

She saw him drop his eyes, and smiled again, but in a different way.
This woman, whom no one accused of anything worse than levity, hailed
every tribute to her power, as a miser greets the glint of gold. With a
turn of her large but elegant figure that in its slow swaying reminded
you of some heavy tropical flower, hanging inert, intoxicated with its
own fragrance, she dismissed at once the topic that had engaged them,
and launched into one of her choicest streams of inconsequent talk. But
Mandeville was in no mood to listen to trivialities, and being of a
somewhat impatient nature, presently rose and excusing himself, took a
hurried leave. Not so hurried however that he did not have time to
murmur to his uncle as they walked towards the door:

"You would make comparison between the girl I worship and other women in
fashionable life. Do not I pray; she is no more like them than a star
that shines is like a rose that blooms. My fate will not be like that of
mo