nd a net,--Ila had introduced tennis to Menlo,--but
either Ila or Caro possessed him with the tentacles of their kind. Mrs.
Yorba had made it understood that her party was to be the first of the
season, so the evenings alone were unoccupied. Trennahan dined twice at
Fair Oaks, but Don Roberto and Mr. Polk claimed him. Magdalena wondered
if he had forgotten his original programme. But with four handsome girls
demanding his attentions, a literary friendship was doubtless a dream of
the future. She felt an unaccountable depression, and wondered if she
were going to be ill.

By the time the evening of the party arrived, the nervousness which had
assailed her when the subject was broached had been tempered by time and
constant association with many who would be present. Tiny and the other
girls had promised to make "things go." There were to be no ball gowns,
and the whole affair was to be as informal as possible. She even
harboured pleasurable anticipation. Parties, she had read and heard,
were brilliant exhilarating affairs, and she loved dancing as only a
Spanish woman can. In this, at least, she should excel her fellows. She
had taken lessons once a week for the last two years from a solemn and
automatic person who had rarely opened his lips except to complain of
the heavy carpets in the cavernous Yorba parlours.

Magdalena dressed immediately after dinner; the guests were expected by
nine. She wore her white organdie, but fastened crimson roses in her
hair and belt. She was by no means satisfied with her appearance,--she
was too ardent an admirer of beauty for that,--but she knew that she
looked far better than she had on the night of her dinner. She shuddered
at the memory of that white ribbon about her swarthy throat.

She went downstairs, and thought the big rooms looked very inviting with
their white floors; the folding-doors had been rolled back, and the
parlour and dining-room made an immense sweep. The vases on the mantels
were full of flowers. In the distance she heard the tuning of a fiddle.

The night was hot, and all the windows were open. The dark grounds
beyond looked full of mystery, and of infinite depth. She thought at the
moment that there was nothing she loved more than the mystery of night
in the country. As she stood in the middle of the brilliantly lighted
room, the heavy darkness without outlined with trees and great shrubs,
the broken spaces above, set with stars, allured her. Almost
unconsciou