insult you."

"Don't scold,--kiss me." She put up her lips, but he did not respond
to the motion, and she pettishly drew his head down and kissed him
several times. "How obstinate you have grown!--how harsh towards me!
It is all the result of that--"

She bit her lip, and her brother frowned.

"Take care! You seem continually disposed to stumble very awkwardly
into forbidden realms."

The petted invalid nestled her pretty head on his bosom, and patted
his cheek with one hot hand.

"Brother, Kate Sutherland was here this morning, and left--besides
numerous kind messages for you--a three-cornered note that I ordered
Adele to place in your dressing-case, where I felt sure you would see
it."

"Yes, I saw it."

"An invitation to ascend Monte Pellegrini?"

"Which I respectfully decline."

"O Merton! Why not go?"

"Simply because I never premeditatedly, and with _malice prepense_,
bore myself by joining parties composed of persons in whom I have not
an atom of interest."

"But Kate is so lovely?"

"Not to me."

"Nonsense! She was the handsomest young girl in Paris, and was the
acknowledged belle of the season."

"Possibly. Henna-dyed nails are considered irresistible in Turkey, but
your opalescent ones attract me infinitely more pleasantly."

"Pray what have my nails to do with Kate's beauty?"

"Nothing destructive, I hope,--as I am disposed to think she has
little to spare."

"Good heavens! You surely would not insinuate that you believe
or consider,--or would admit, that she is not vastly superior
to--to--there, Beauty, down! She is actually dining on the fringe
of my pelerine!"

To cover her confusion, Constance addressed herself to the diminutive
dog at her feet, and taking her flushed face in his hands, the brother
looked steadily down, and answered,--

"I never insinuate. It impresses me as a cowardly and contemptible bit
of plebeian practice that found favor after the royal purple was
trailed in agrarian democratic dust; and lest you should unjustly
impute abhorred innuendoes to me, I will say perspicuously, that the
most attractive and beautiful woman I have ever seen is not your fair
friend Miss Sutherland, nor any other darling of diamond and satin
sheen, but a young lady whom I admire beyond expression, Miss Salome
Owen."

An angry flush burned on the invalid's face, and her mouth curled
scornfully.

"She is rather handsome sometimes,--so are gypsies and other waifs;
but it is a wild