ally as it was for a charity. And I think he will be a little proud of my success, in spite of himself.'

There had been a dance at the Rancho after the general public had dispersed, and Elizabeth had been the star of the evening, the object of everybody's outspoken admiration. All the performers had been praised, of course-Mr. Cinqmars for his lifelike rendering of the doddering Triplet, in which he was declared by some enthusiastic friends to have rivalled Webster and Lemaitre; Mrs. Cinqmars for her pathos and charming appearance as Mabel Vane; Lord Paulyn and the Major for their several merits; but no one attempted to disguise the fact that Elizabeth's had been the crowning triumph. Enthusiastic young men told her that she ought to go on the stage, that she would take the town by storm, and make ten thousand a year, and so on. Lord Paulyn told her-but that was only a repetition of what he had told her before.

You promised you would never speak of that subject again,' she said.

It was in a waltz, as they were whirling round to the Soldaten Lieder.

'I shall speak of it till my dying day,' he said. 'Yes, if it makes you ever so angry. Remember what I told you. I swore an oath the day I saw you first.'

'I will never dance with you again.'

'O, yes, you will. But I tell you what you will never do you will never marry that parson fellow. It isn't possible that, after having seen what the world is, and your own capacity for shining in it, you could lead such a life as you'd have to lead with him.'

'Ah, that's because you don't know how much I love him,' the girl answered with a radiant look. I'd rather be shut up in a convent, like Heloise, and exist upon an occasional letter from him, than have all the pleasures of the world without him.'

'Bosh!' said the Viscount bluntly. A week of the convent would make you tell another story. Your fancy for this man is one of your caprices and heaven knows you are about the most capricious woman in the world. You like him because every one is opposed to your marrying him-because it's about the maddest, most suicidal thing you could do.'

'I'm tired,' said Elizabeth; take me to a seat, please.'

And having once released herself from him, she took care that Lord Paulyn should have no farther speech with her that night.

She thought of his impertinences this morning, as she lay on the sofa listlessly fanning herself; thought of his obstinate pursuit of her; and thought-with some touch of pride in her own superiority to sordid considerations - how very few young women in her position would have held out against such a siege.

She was in the midst of a half-stifled yawn when the pompous

butler opened the door in his grand sweeping way, and announced, 'Mr. Forde.'

She sprang to her feet, her heart beating violently, her tired eyes brightening with sudden joy, and seemed as if, forgetful of the scarcely departed butler, she would have flung herself into her lover's

arms.

Her lover! Alas, was that a lover whose grave eyes met hers with so cold a gaze? She drew back, appalled by that strange look.

'Malcolm!' she cried, what is the matter?'

There is so much the matter, Miss Luttrell, that I have hesitated this morning as to whether I should write you a brief note of farewell, or come here to bid you my last good-bye in person.'

The girl drew herself up with her queenliest air. Trembling with a strange inward shiver, sick at heart, cold as death, she yet faced him resolutely; ready to see the ship that carried all her freight of hope and gladness go down to the bottom of the ocean without one cry of despair.

It was at least polite to call,' she said loftily. May I ask what has caused this abrupt change in your plans?'

I think it is scarcely needful for you to inquire. But I have no wish to be otherwise than outspoken. I was at your friend's house last night, and saw you.'

I hope you were not very much shocked by what you saw.' Not for worlds would she now have apologised for her conduct, or explained that she had intended to tell him all about the amateur performance at the Rancho when it was over.

'I might have forgiven what I saw; though, if you had known my mind in the least, you must have known how unwelcome such an exhibition would be to me.'

'Did I play my part so very badly, then?' With a little offended laugh, womanly vanity asserting itself even in the midst of her anguish. 'Did I make so great a fool of myself?'

He took no notice of the inquiry, but went on, with suppressed passion, standing before her, his broad muscular hand grasping the back of one of Mrs. Chevenix's fragile chairs, which trembled under the pressure.

I heard your attractions, your opportunities, your future, discussed very freely between the acts of your comedy. I heard of your engagement to Lord Paulyn.'

My engagement to Lord Paulyn!' staring at him with widening eyes.

'Yes; a fact which I found confirmed this morning by one of the newspapers in the coffee-room where I breakfasted.'

He gave her a copy of the Court Journal.

'You will see your name there among the announcements of

impending marriages in high life. "A marriage is on the tapis between Lord Paulyn and Miss Luttrell, third daughter of the Rev. Wilmot Luttrell, rector of Hawleigh." It was rather hard that you should allow the court newsman to be wiser than I.'

Eager words of denial trembled on her lips, but before they could be spoken, pride silenced her. What! he came to her in this ruthless fashion, came with his course resolved, and resigned her as coolly as if she were a prize not worth contesting.

'You have come here to-to give me up,' she said.

'I have resigned myself to circumstances. But would it not have been as well to be off with the old love before you were on with the new? It is a matter of little consequence, perhaps, to the new love; but it is not quite fair to the old.'

'You have not taken the trouble to think that this paragraph might be a newsmonger's unlicensed gossip, as meaningless as the talk you may have heard last night.'

He looked at her earnestly. No, there was neither penitence nor love in that cold beautiful face, only pride and anger. Was it the same face that had looked at him passionately in the moonlight four months ago? Was this the woman who had almost offered him her love?

Even if this announcement is somewhat premature, I have learned enough to know that it is only premature, that it must come in due course, unless, indeed, you are more reckless of your reputation than I could have supposed it possible for your father's daughter to be. Your name has been too long associated with Lord Paulyn's to admit of any termination but one to your aequaintance. For your own sake, I recommend you to marry him.' 'I am hardly likely to despise such generous advice. If you had ever loved me,' with a sudden burst of passion, you could not talk to me like this.'

'I have loved you well enough to falsify the whole scheme of my life, to sacrifice the dearest wish of my mind-'

'But it was such an unwilling sacrifice,' exclaimed Elizabeth bitterly. God forbid that I should profit by it!'

God only knows how much I have loved you, Elizabeth; for He alone knows the strength of my temptation and the weakness of my soul. But you-you were only playing at love; and the romantic ardour which you assumed, with so fatal a charm, was so factitious a sentiment that it could not weigh for a single hour against your love of pleasure, or stand between your ambition and its object for a single day. Let it pass, with that dead past to which it belongs. The dream was sweet enough while it lasted; but it was only a dream, and it has gone like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors.'

She stood like a statue, hardening her heart against him. What,