outh, and of that other mouth
to which it had lately clung--she blushed hot, then cold--for that icy
tingle through all her blood was like a cold and bitter blush.

She spent unusual thought in selecting her toilette for that evening.
She desired to look the antithesis of Belinda, so she chose a gown of
dead white embroidered in crystal. She wished to sign herself to
herself, as no longer belonging to Morris--so she wore with it a circlet
of little diamond flames, one of Gerald's gifts to her.

But little by little her mood of lofty disdain passed finally into
still, hot anger. This flashed its fire into her eyes and cheeks. As
Louise set the diadem of frosty-flames in place, she remarked with
conviction:

"_Madame n'a pas ete aussi en beaute depuis longtemps_...."

Sophy had the strangest sense of triumph in defeat, of dark exultation
as she went slowly downstairs towards the drawing-room--the age-old
exultation of the deposed queen who feels that her beauty is greater
than that of her supplanter.

XXXII

Belinda and Loring were already in the drawing-room when she entered.
Belinda stood by a table fingering a vase of Hortensias. She broke one
off just then and twirled it nervously. Loring was lighting a cigarette.
It seemed troublesome to light. His hand shook a little.

Sophy paused just within the door, drawing on her gloves, her eyes on
Belinda. The pale, mauve-blue flower against the girl's flame-coloured
gown made an odd, decadent note. She was all in red chiffon--a silver
girdle about her waist--poppies with silver hearts over one ear.
"'Colour of blood ... colour of my heart...." Sophy thought, and it was
hard to keep her lip from curling to the sneer in her thought.

She spoke while still busied with her gloves. She said that she hoped
Belinda's trip had been pleasant. Belinda said, Thanks, that it had been
"bully." Sophy then glanced at the clock. It was only a quarter to
eight.

"How very punctual we all are to-night...." she said.

Loring said, as if surprised: "By Jove! Yes ... so we are."

He, too, looked earnestly at the clock. A self-conscious laugh followed
his words.

Belinda remarked that as her dinner was at eight _she_ wasn't so very
early. "I ought to be going now...." she concluded.

Sophy finished fastening her gloves and came forward. One of the side
lights caught her full as she did so, and her white figure sprang out
against the shadows of the room beyond with the glit