t half the time I leave them on my
dressing-room table till next morning. Ha! ha! It is always best to
humour ladies, even when they are a trifle unreasonable."

It is one of Maitland's little foibles that he never can resist drawing
attention to the family diamonds (which are remarkably fine) by some
passing allusion of this sort.

Nothing of any interest happened during dinner. When it was at last
terminated we retired to the drawing-room, and listened with great
decorum to several pieces of music. Miss Latouche was pressed to perform
upon the harp, which she did with her usual melancholy grace. To-night
she was in a rich white robe, which enhanced the peculiarly dusky effect
of her olive skin and masses of dark hair. Her face was very pale; and,
to my surprise, shortly after playing she complained of a bad headache
and went off to bed. I hardly knew what to think. Had her courage failed
her at the last, and, when it came to the point, did she shrink from
braving the opinion of the world which she affected so thoroughly to
despise?

"So, after all her boasting, she is no bolder than the rest of us!" I
thought, with intense relief, as I wandered across the hall to join the
other men in the smoking-room. The last guest had departed, and very
soon the whole house would be at rest for the night. "How I shall laugh
at her to-morrow!" I muttered. "Never again will she impose--"

My meditations were interrupted by an icy touch on my wrist. Turning, I
saw Irene by my side, with a dark cloak thrown over her evening dress.
Without speaking a word she drew me towards a side door into the garden,
which was seldom used, and, producing a key from her pocket, opened it
noiselessly.

"We can't go out at this time of night!" I gasped, making a faint effort
to break loose. "I haven't even a hat! It's really past a joke!"

"Remember your promise!" she whispered, in a voice of such awful menace
that, feeling all resistance was useless, I followed her out into the
darkness. At that moment a sudden gust of wind slammed the door.

"_Now_ what shall we do!" I exclaimed. "There is no handle and the key
is inside!"

"Hush!" she whispered. "No more of these trivialities! I tell you the
Spirits are abroad to-night; the air is thick with unseen forms. Obey me
in silence, or you are lost."

Speechless with annoyance, my teeth chattering with cold and general
creepiness, I followed her through the shrubberies until we reached the
site of