p a swift rush of such emotion as
he might have felt when a strain of really good music mingles with the
accompaniment of some tedious opera.

"You went to call on Mme. de Beauseant yesterday, did you not?" The
speaker was an elderly lady, and she addressed the head of the local
royal family.

"I went this morning. She was so poorly and depressed, that I could not
persuade her to dine with us to-morrow."

"With Mme. de Champignelles?" exclaimed the dowager with something like
astonishment in her manner.

"With my wife," calmly assented the noble. "Mme. de Beauseant is
descended from the House of Burgundy, on the spindle side, 'tis true,
but the name atones for everything. My wife is very much attached to
the Vicomtesse, and the poor lady has lived alone for such a long while,
that----"

The Marquis de Champignelles looked round about him while he spoke with
an air of cool unconcern, so that it was almost impossible to guess
whether he made a concession to Mme. de Beauseant's misfortunes, or paid
homage to her noble birth; whether he felt flattered to receive her in
his house, or, on the contrary, sheer pride was the motive that led him
to try to force the country families to meet the Vicomtesse.

The women appeared to take counsel of each other by a glance; there was
a sudden silence in the room, and it was felt that their attitude was
one of disapproval.

"Does this Mme. de Beauseant happen to be the lady whose adventure with
M. d'Ajuda-Pinto made so much noise?" asked Gaston of his neighbor.

"The very same," he was told. "She came to Courcelles after the marriage
of the Marquis d'Ajuda; nobody visits her. She has, besides, too much
sense not to see that she is in a false position, so she has made no
attempt to see any one. M. de Champignelles and a few gentlemen went to
call upon her, but she would see no one but M. de Champignelles, perhaps
because he is a connection of the family. They are related through
the Beauseants; the father of the present Vicomte married a Mlle.
de Champignelles of the older branch. But though the Vicomtesse de
Beauseant is supposed to be a descendant of the House of Burgundy, you
can understand that we could not admit a wife separated from her husband
into our society here. We are foolish enough still to cling to these
old-fashioned ideas. There was the less excuse for the Vicomtesse,
because M. de Beauseant is a well-bred man of the world, who would have
been quite ready to list