heeded nothing, of the bright looks
and laughing faces that passed me; scornful pity and contempt for one
so low as I was seemed to prevail in every face I looked at. A strange
impulse to seek out Lord Dudley de Vere was uppermost in my mind; and as
I turned on every side to find him, I felt my arm grasped tightly, and
heard O'Grady's voice in my ear--

'Be calm, Jack, for heaven's sake! Your disturbed looks make every one
stare at you.'

He drew me along with him through the crowd, and at length reached a
card-room, where, except the players, no one was present.

'Come, my dear boy, I saw what has annoyed you.'

'You saw it!' said I, my eyeballs straining as I spoke.

'Yes, yes; and what signifies it? So very handsome a girl, and the
expectation of a large fortune, must always have followers. But you know
Lady Julia well enough----'

'Lady Julia!' repeated I, in amazement.

'Yes. I say you know her well enough to believe that Beulwitz is not
exactly the person----'

A burst of laughter at his mistake broke from me at the moment; but so
wild and discordant was it that O'Grady misconstrued its meaning, and
went at some length to assure me that my cousin's affection for me was
beyond my suspicion.

Stunned by my own overwhelming sorrow, I felt no inclination to
undeceive him, and let him persist in his error without even a word of
reply.

'Rouse yourself, Jack,' said he, at length. 'This depression is unworthy
of you, had you even cause for grief. There's many a heart heavier than
your own, my boy, where the lip is smiling this minute.'

There was a tone of deep affliction in the cadence of his voice as
these words fell from him, and he turned away his head as he spoke. Then
rallying in an instant, he added--

'Do you know, our dear friend Mrs. Paul has scarcely ventured to
acknowledge me to-night, and I feel a kind of devilish spirit of
vengeance working within me in consequence. To out me! I that trained
her infant mind to greatness; that actually smuggled for her a
contraband viceroy, and brought him alive into her dominions! What dire
ingratitude! Come, what say you to champagne?'

He poured me out a large glassful as he spoke, and, filling his own,
called out, laughing--

'Here, I give you a toast--"La Vendetta!" eh, Jack? Corsican vengeance
on all who maltreat us!'

Glass after glass followed; and I felt my brain, instead of being
excited, grow calmer, steadier; a firm and determined resolution