ing what she replied. There was, in those wonderful
eyes, a strange, far-off look, and it was that which, more than
anything else, attracted my attention and caused me to notice the
pair.

Her fair, sweet countenance was perfect in its contour, her cheeks
innocent of the Parisienne's usual aids to beauty, her lips red and
well moulded, while two tiny dimples gave a piquancy to a face which
was far more beautiful than any I had met in all my wanderings.

Again she raised her eyes from the table and gazed across the flowers
at me fixedly, with just a sudden inquisitiveness shown by her
slightly knit brows. Then, suddenly starting, as though realizing she
was looking at a stranger, she dropped her eyes again, and replied to
some question her father had addressed to her.

Her dead black gown was cut just discreetly _decollete_, which well
became a girl not yet twenty, while at her throat, suspended by a very
thin gold chain, was a single stone, a splendid ruby of enormous size,
and of evident value. The only other ornament she wore was a curious
antique bracelet in the form of a jewelled snake, the tail of which
was in its mouth--the ancient emblem of Eternity.

Why she possessed such an attraction for me I cannot tell, except that
she seemed totally unlike any other woman I had ever met before--a
face that was as perfect as any I had seen on the canvases of the
great painters, or in the marbles of the Louvre or the Vatican.

Again she raised her eyes to mine. Again I realized that the
expression was entirely unusual. Then she dropped them again, and in a
slow, inert way ate the crayfish soup which the waiter had placed
before her.

Others in the big, long room had noticed her beauty, for I saw people
whispering among themselves, while her father, leaning back in his
chair on placing down his spoon, was entirely conscious of the
sensation his daughter had evoked.

Throughout the meal I watched the pair carefully, trying to overhear
their conversation. It was, however, always in low, confidential
tones, and, strain my ears how I might, I could gather nothing. They
spoke in French, which I detected from the girl's monosyllables, but
beyond that I could understand nothing.

From the obsequious manner of the _maitre d'hotel_ I knew that her
father was a person of importance. Yet the man who knows what to order
in a restaurant, and orders it with instructions, is certain to
receive marked attention. The epicure always