kissed her gown.

By and by a vast tenderness breathed its calm over the thwarted
passion in his breast, and plans to win her back came whispering in
his ear. He would write a letter and send it to her room. But no;
perhaps it would be wise to give her a longer interval for reflection
and--it might be--regret. To-morrow he would see her and show all the
depths of that great love which she had thought to throw away. She
could not go on withstanding him forever; and now that he had burned
his boats behind him, he would never think of turning back. He would
persevere till she should yield.

Meanwhile Virginia had hurried blindly toward the house, and it was
instinct rather than intention that led her to the open window of the
music room, by which she had come out.

Tears burned her eyelids, but they did not fall until she stood once
more in the room where she and Leopold had been happy together. There
she had sat at the piano, and he had bent over her, love in his
eyes--honest love, she had thought, her heart full of thanksgiving.
How little she had guessed then the humiliation in store for her, and
the end of all her hopes! How could she bear her pain, and how could
she go on living out her life?

She paused in the window niche, looking into the room through a mist
of tears, and a sob choked her. "Cruel--cruel," she whispered. "What
agony--what an insult!"

Then, dashing away her tears, she pushed back the dark curtain, and
would have passed on into the room, had not the quick gesture brought
her arm into contact with the buttons and gold braid on a man's
breast.

Instantly she realized that some one was hiding there--some
one dressed in a military coat; and her first impulse was for
flight--anything to escape, unrecognized. But on second thoughts
she changed her mind.

Whoever it was had in all probability hidden himself for the purpose
of spying, and was already aware that Miss Mowbray had rushed into the
house weeping, after a tete-a-tete with the Emperor in the garden.
Perhaps he had even caught a word or two of her sobbing ejaculation.
No, she must not run away, and leave the outcome of this affair to
chance. She must see with whom she had to deal, that she might know
what was best to do.

She had taken a step into the room, but quick as light she turned,
pulled away the screen of curtain and faced Captain von Breitstein.

It was a trying moment for him, and the girl's look stripped him of
all his light