ary who
had been directed to prepare the list of persons to be invited had
according to custom put down his name among the noble and distinguished
Neapolitans who had called at the embassy of their country in Paris. The
Duchess saw the list, and said nothing. The Duke hesitated for a long
time--not that he had the least suspicion of the Duchess's sentiments
towards Monte-Leone: he had attributed the presence of La Felina at the
etruscan house to the consequence of an abortive masked-ball pleasantry.
Besides, at the time of the arrest there were three other men in the
house, and the ex-minister had almost forgotten the affair. The Count,
in spite of his acquittal, was known to be an enemy of the government,
and he doubted if it was proper to receive him at the embassy. One
consideration alone prevented the Duke from erasing his name from the
list--it was that the Count would not wish to appear at the embassy, and
the Duke would thus be spared the necessity of showing any rudeness to
him. The day came at last. The interior of the hotel was really
fairy-like, and the rooms on the ground floor joined with the garden
ball-room presented one of those magical pictures of which poets dream,
but which men rarely see. The arts, luxury, comfort, opulence, and
taste, all were united to produce a spectacle, which, lighted by a
thousand lamps, spoke both to the mind and senses, and recalled one of
those splendid palaces of _The Thousand and One Nights_, of which we
have read, but which none will see.

On that day the Duchess seemed to have regained all her dazzling beauty.
An observer might however have asked if the animation of this lady was
not derived from a kind of feverish agitation, evident in the brilliancy
of her eyes and deep red of her lips, rather than from expectation of
pleasure or joy at the realization of the plans she had marked out for
herself. Nine o'clock struck when the first guests were introduced. A
crowd soon followed them, and the most distinguished names were heard in
the saloons. The Duke d'Harcourt! the Vicompte and Mlle. Marie
d'Harcourt! the Prince de Maulear! the Marquis and Marquise de Maulear!
Signor Taddeo Rovero! _Il Conte_ MONTE-LEONE!

* * * * *

CORREGIO, the illustrious painter, is said to have been born and bred,
and to have lived and died in extreme poverty. It is stated that he came
to his death at the early age of forty, from the fatigue of carrying
home a lo