the chisel of Praxiteles in the 104th Olympiad. As for
her eyes, her very soul is enshrined in their blue depths."

There was a lot more--several columns more--in a similar strain.

As was to be expected, such a tribute attracted the attention of
Prince Ivan Paskievich, the Viceroy of Poland. He had a weakness for
pretty women; and, after the long succession of lumpy and heavy-footed
ballerinas occupying the Warsaw stage, this new arrival sounded
promising. When a trusted emissary reported that the critics "had not
said half what they might," he resolved to make her acquaintance. His
first step was to send her, through Madam Steinkeller, the wife of a
banker, an invitation to have supper with him at his private house.

Lola, flattered by the invitation, and less clear-headed than usual,
was sufficiently trusting to accept. She soon, however, discovered
that his Excellency's intentions were strictly dishonourable, for he
made her, she afterwards said, "a most indelicate proposition." Her
response was to laugh in his face, and to tell him that "she had no
wish to become his toy." Thereupon, Paskievich, furious at such a
repulse (and unaccustomed to being thwarted by anyone, must less by a
ballet-dancer), dismissed her with threats of reprisals. The first of
these took the form of a visit from Colonel Abrahamowicz, the official
charged with "preserving morality in the Warsaw theatres." He
apparently interpreted his responsible functions in a fashion that
left something to be desired, for Lola complained that "his conduct
was so free that I took serious exception to it."

Paskievich then dealt his next card. This was to instruct his
understrapper to fill the theatre with a rabble and have her hissed
off the stage. Lola, however, was equal to the occasion. Advancing to
the footlights, before the terror-stricken manager could stop her, she
pointed to Colonel Abrahamowicz, sitting in a box, and exclaimed:
"Ladies and gentlemen, there is the dastard who attempts to revenge
himself on a pure woman who has scorned his infamous suggestions! I
ask your protection!"

Accompanied by M. Lesniowski, the editor of the _Warsaw Gazette_, she
returned to her lodgings, wondering what would happen next. She was
soon to discover, for the angry Colonel and a squad of police arrived
with a warrant for her arrest as an "undesirable." When, however, they
announced their purpose, she flourished a pistol in their faces and
declared that she wo