te with his
charming queen. The Duchess of Hexham, alarmed lest her most brilliant
star should be eclipsed, came to the rescue. Lady Amelie was soon
surrounded, and then was carried off by the archduke.

Not, however, before she had managed to turn round to Basil and say to
him, sotto voce, "You must call and see me. We shall be friends, I can
foretell." And he was more charmed than ever by those words. Friends
with that enchanting woman, that proud, peerless queen, that radiant
beauty! Be friends with her! It was more than he had dared to venture to
hope. That he might worship her in the distance seemed to him honor
enough.

He had dreamed of such women, but he had not thought they existed; they
belonged to the heroic ages, past now and dead. Here, in the midst of
the days he considered so degenerate, he had found the very ideal of his
heart.

The brilliant scene before him seemed to fade away. Ah! if there was but
some faint chance of distinguishing himself for her sake!--if she were
but a princess in distress!--a lady for whom he could enter the lists
and fight until he won! What was there in this prosaic century that he
could do for her?--literally nothing but give her flowers.

"Basil! Basil! my dear boy," said a voice near him. "Pray excuse me, but
what are you doing here? Dreaming in a ballroom? This will not do."

And Basil, aroused from his dream, looked up to see the face of Colonel
Mostyn, wearing an expression of perfect horror.

"Do rouse up, Basil! Do, for heaven's sake, try to be like every one
else! Lady Masham wishes to know you; come with me."

Basil followed, like a victim. Lady Masham received him cordially,
mentioned casually that she had been to school with his mother,
therefore felt called upon to take a special interest in himself, and
then, very kindly, introduced him to her youngest daughter, Miss Nellie,
whom she pathetically called the flower of her flock. Miss Nellie was a
pretty girl, as were all the Misses Masham, or they would not have
figured at her grace's ball. She wore the regulation chignon, golden
brown in her case, her eyes were blue, her lips rosy and sweet, her face
fair as the lilies and roses of summer. They had all been brought up
after the same pattern; they all knew exactly what to say in every case
and how to say it. As a matter of course, and not, it is to be feared,
because he felt the least inclination, Basil asked the young lady to
dance, and Miss Nellie, with t