d her reason had accepted the facts at once.

Sometimes during those rides she dreamed of a lover in the vague fashion
of a girl whose acquaintance of man is confined to a few elderly men and
to the creations of masters; but only then. She rarely deluded herself.
She was plain; she could not even interest women. She felt that she was
wholly without that magnetism which, she had read, made many plain women
irresistible to man.

XV

Don Roberto was to bring his guest with him on the train which arrived a
few minutes after five. Magdalena was told to dress early and be in the
parlour when Mr. Trennahan came downstairs. She was cold at the thought
of talking alone with a man and a stranger; but Mrs. Yorba had
neuralgia, and announced her intention to lie down until the last
minute.

Magdalena had received a number of pretty presents from her aunt and
friends, a cablegram from Colonel Belmont and Helena, and from her
father a small gold watch and fob. Her father's gift was very
magnificent to her, and her pleasure was as great in the thought of his
generosity as in the beauty of the gift itself. His usual gift was ten
dollars; and as it had been decided that she was not to be a young lady
until she was nineteen, her eighteenth birthday had been passed over.

Her mother's present was the dress she was to wear to-night, a white
organdie of the pearly tint high in favour with blondes of matchless
complexion, a white sash, and a white ribbon to be knotted about the
throat. The neck of the gown was cut in a small V.

Magdalena had no natural taste in dress, nor did she know the first
principle of the law of colour; but when she had finished her toilette
she stood for many moments before the mirror, regarding herself with
disapproval. The radiant whiteness of the frock and of the ribbon about
her neck made her look as dark as an Indian. She saw no beauty in the
noble head with its parted, closely banded hair, in the fine dark eyes.
She saw only the wide mouth and indefinite nose, the complexionless
skin, the long thin figure and ugly neck. The only thing about her that
possessed any claim to beauty, according to her own standards, was her
foot. She thrust it out and strove to find encouragement in its
pulchritude. It was thin and small and arched, and altogether perfect.
She wore her first pair of slippers and silk stockings,--a present from
her aunt. Her mother thought silk stockings a sinful waste of money.

Magd