his year," sighed the
dolorous lady characterized as whine-y Minnie, "but I must try and get an
appointment with that fortune-teller, even if it is hideously expensive.
What did you say her name is, Kitty?"

"An odd name," mimicked Hayden, catching his cousin's eye and unable to
resist a school-boy temptation to tease her. "An odd name." He reproduced
Kitty's high lisping tones perfectly.

"Bobby, if you mock me, I'll give you something that will make you laugh
on the other side of your mouth," she said rapidly under her breath, and
reverting to the phraseology of childhood. "Did you ask her name, Minnie?
It _is_ an odd name. Mademoiselle Mariposa. Sometimes called 'The Veiled
Mariposa.'"

Hayden's laughing face stiffened as if he had received a shock from an
electric battery. Mariposa! Mariposa!--the butterfly. Horace Penfield's
words recurred to him; "I am willing to bet now that you will hear of The
Veiled Mariposa in a very short time, and that, too, from a most
unexpected source."

CHAPTER VI

Hayden had elected to spend one evening at home, a most unusual decision
for him, but one which the night fully justified, for a February gale was
in full progress and was forcing every citizen whether comfortably housed
or uncomfortably out in it, to stand at attention and listen to its
shrieking iterations of "a mad night, my masters."

But to be quite accurate, the state of the weather had nothing whatever
to do with the state of Hayden's mind. Let it be said, by way of
explanation, that since his return to New York, he had been going out so
steadily, accepting so many invitations, meeting so many people, pursuing
the social game so ardently, that the thought of a quiet evening at home,
recommended itself very alluringly to his imagination, and by sheer
virtue of contrast, assumed almost the proportions of an exciting
diversion.

Tatsu had, as usual, deftly, silently and with incredible rapidity
arranged everything for his comfort; and his leisurely dinner completed,
Robert settled himself for a long solitary evening undisturbed by any men
dropping in to interrupt his meditations, or by any vagrant desires to
wander out. The gale precluded both possibilities. It had risen to its
height now, and filled the air with the steady roar of artillery. Great
dashes of rain spattered sharply against the window panes, and Hayden
would lift his head to listen and then sink back more luxuriously than
ever into the dept