he felt a blush creep over her face, neck, and shoulders,
which made her for the first time in her life feel ashamed. She was
ashamed because she thought that the maid might observe and understand
her confusion, and she was very angry with herself to find that so
simple a gift should so disturb her. She sent the maid away that she
might once more be alone. Then she read the card again, and noted the
signature more closely. Why should he sign only his first name? That
was a privilege accorded only to very close friendship. It seemed
presumptuous, that the first note received by her from this young man
should be so signed. She certainly would show him that she resented
what he had done. Indeed she would! Then, with an impulse which she
did not analyze, she crushed the buds to her lips and kissed them
rapturously. In another moment she realized what she was doing, and
again a blush colored her fair skin, and as she observed it in her
mirror, she exclaimed, half aloud:

"A red blush, the symbolic color of love!" She paused, retreating
before her own thought. But there was no repressing it. "Do I love
him?" She did not reply to this aloud, but the blush deepened so that
she turned away from the glass, that she might hide the evidence of
her own secret from herself.

If the Judge could have guessed what was passing through the mind of
his daughter, he might have more fully respected the suggestion theory
which Doctor Medjora had propounded to him. As it was, a night's
sleep, and an hour's consideration of the matter on the following day,
enabled him to conclude that there was nothing about which he need
disturb himself. He had come to admit, however, that assuredly Agnes
was a wonderfully healthy and intellectual girl, and he was willing to
accord some credit therefor to her association with his friend, the
Doctor. Feeling consequently indebted to Dr. Medjora, he hastened to
write to him that he would immediately take the steps necessary for
his legal adoption of Leon, and for giving the lad the name Medjora.
The receipt of this letter gratified the Doctor very much, and for the
rest of the day he was in high spirits.

CHAPTER XII.

THE MARQUIS OF LOSSY.

With Leon, the Doctor's suggestion had worked differently, though none
the less potently, despite the fact that the lad himself did not
detect the symptoms, as did the girl. I think a woman's instincts are
more attuned to the influences of the softer passions t