of reproof, and I waited the whole discussion with patience.

'Never was there such a difficulty,' said the Count, musing. 'There
is certainly nothing to be done through the worthy husband of Madame.
Dejoncourt and two or three more gave him a _diner en gourmand_ at
Very's, to seduce him; and after his fifth flask of champagne he frankly
confessed he was sorry he could not return their civilities as he
wished. I 'll entertain you here, and have Blucher and Platon, Fouche,
and any one else you like to meet you. I'll introduce you to old Prussia
and the Czar whenever you please; you shall have permission to shoot
at Fontainebleau any day you mention; but as to Madame de Roni, she is
devilish exclusive. I really cannot manage that for you.'

'I wish you could prevail on yourself to be serious,' said my mother, in
nowise pleased with the jocular spirit the Count's anecdote had excited.
'But here is Julia--what does she advise?'

As my mother spoke, the door opened, and my cousin appeared. Her figure
had more of the roundness of womanhood, and her face, though paler, was
fuller, and its expression had assumed a more decided character than
when I last saw her. Her winning smile and her graceful carriage
were all unchanged; and her low soft voice never struck me as more
fascinating than when she held out her hand and said--

'My dear cousin, how happy it makes me to see you again!'

Her dark-blue eyes were tearful as she spoke, and her lip--that haughty
lip--trembled. A strange wild thrill crept through my heart as I pressed
her hand within both of mine--a vague feeling which I dared not suffer
to dwell in my mind, and yet feared lest when it should depart that I
had lost my chance of happiness. Yes, there are times when a man without
the admixture of any coxcombry in the feeling, without a particle
of vanity--nay, with a deep sense of his own un worthiness--can ask
himself, 'Does this woman like me?' And at such moments, if his own
heart give not the ready answer, it were far better that he sought not
the reply from his reason.

It was only when my mother asked, for the second time, what was to be
done about John's ticket, that Julia seemed aware of the question--a
slight, a very slight, curving of her lip showing the while the sense
she entertained of such an inquiry after long years of separation; and
at last, as if unable to repress the indignation of the moment, she said
abruptly--

'But, of course, as we shall not