alian opera.

Mrs. Markham and Miss Harley were twin stars in this group, and Prescott
could not tell which had the greater popularity. Mrs. Markham was the
more worldly and perhaps the more accomplished; but the girl was all
youthful freshness, and there was about her an air of simplicity that
the older woman lacked.

It gradually developed into a contest between them, heightened, so it
seemed to Prescott, by the fact that Colonel Harley was always by the
side of Mrs. Markham, and apparently made no effort to hide his
admiration, while his sister was seeking without avail to draw him away.
Prescott stood aside for a few moments to watch and then Raymond put his
hand on his shoulder.

"You see in Mrs. Markham a very remarkable woman--the married belle,"
said the editor. "The married belle, I understand, is an established
feature of life abroad, but she is as yet comparatively unknown in the
South. Here we put a woman on the shelf at twenty--or at eighteen if she
marries then, as she often does."

Coffee and waffles were served at ten o'clock. Two coloured women
brought in the coffee and the cups on a tray, but the ladies themselves
served it.

"I apologize for the coffee," said Mrs. Markham. "I have a suspicion
that it is more or less bean, but the Yankee blockading fleet is very
active and I dare any of you to complain."

"Served by your hand, the common or field bean becomes the finest
mocha," said Mr. Pegram, with the ornate courtesy of the old South.

"And if any one dare to intimate that it is not mocha I shall challenge
him immediately," said Winthrop.

"You will have to use a worse threat than that," said Mrs. Markham. "I
understand that at your last duel you hit a negro plowing in a cornfield
fifty yards from your antagonist."

"And scared the negro's mule half to death," added Raymond.

"But in your cause, Mrs. Markham, I couldn't miss," replied the gallant
Winthrop, not at all daunted.

The waffles were brought in hot from the kitchen and eaten with the
coffee. After the refreshments the company began to play "forfeit
essay." Two hats were handed around, all drawing a question from one hat
and a word from the other. It became the duty of every one to connect
question and word by a poem, essay, song or tale in time to be recited
at the next meeting. Then they heard the results of the last meeting.

"That's Innes Randolph standing up there in the corner and getting ready
to recite," said Talbot to