ly believe my
good fortune--how have I this honor?" All this in hard, rapid
sentences, with a brilliant smile.

Farnham thought of the last words of Mrs. Adipson, and said,
intrepidly, "Well, you know the poets better than I do, Miss Euphrasia,
and there is somebody who says, 'Beauty draws us by the simple way she
does her hair'--or something like it. That classic fillet was the first
thing I saw as I entered the room, and _me voici!_"

We have already said that the fault of Farnham's conversation with
women was the soldier's fault of direct and indiscriminate compliment.
But this was too much in Euphrasia's manner for her to object to it.
She laughed and said, "You deserve a _pensum_ of fifty lines for such a
misquotation. But, _dites-donc, monsieur_"--for French was one of her
favorite affectations, and when she found a man to speak it with, she
rode the occasion to death. There had been a crisis in the French
ministry a few days before, and she now began a voluble conversation on
the subject, ostensibly desiring Farnham's opinion on the crisis, but
really seizing the opportunity of displaying her familiarity with the
names of the new cabinet. She talked with great spirit and animation,
sometimes using her fine eyes point-blank upon Farnham, sometimes
glancing about to observe the effect she was creating; which gave
Farnham his opportunity to sigh his soul away over her shoulder to
where Alice was sweetly and placidly talking with her friends.

She had seen him come in, and her heart had stood still for a moment;
but her feminine instinct sustained her, and she had not once glanced
in his direction. But she was conscious of every look and action of
his; and when he approached the corner where she was sitting, she felt
as if a warm and embarrassing ray of sunshine was coming near her, She
was at once relieved and disappointed when he sat down by Miss Dallas.
She thought to herself: "Perhaps he will never speak to me again. It is
all my fault. I threw him away. But it was not my fault. It was his--it
was hers. I do not know what to think. He might have let me alone. I
liked him so much. I have only been a month out of school. What shall I
do if he never speaks to me again?" Yet such is the power which, for
self-defence, is given to young maidens that, while these tumultuous
thoughts were passing through her mind, she talked and laughed with the
girls beside her, and exchanged an occasional word with the young men
in