dressed, and exceedingly handsome; the
other a peaked lady, passee and thin, with her hair bleached to a canary
yellow. The Jewess, still singing, smiled at them, and the girl gave
back a lazy smile in return. Then as the song came to a deep and mellow
close, Madame Delmonti, with a delicate rustling of silk brushing
against silk, swept across the room and greeted her guest.

Madame Delmonti was an American, very rich, a good deal made up, but
still pretty, and extremely well preserved. Signor Delmonti, an Italian
baritone, whom she had married, and supported ever since, was useful
about the house, as he now proved by standing at a little table and
ladling punch into small glasses, which were distributed among the
guests by the two little Delmonti girls in green silk frocks. Madame
Delmonti, with her rouged cheeks and merry grey eyes, as full of sparkle
as they had been twenty years ago, was very cordial to her guest, asking
him, as they stood in the doorway, whom he would best like to meet.

"Maud Levy, who has been singing," she said, "is one of the belles in
Hebrew society. She has a fine voice. You have no objection, Mr.
Faraday, to knowing Jews?"

Faraday hastily disclaimed all race prejudices, and she continued,
discreetly designating the ladies on the sofa:

"There are two delightful girls. Mrs. Peck, the blonde, is the society
writer for the _Morning Trumpet_. She is an elegant woman of a very fine
Southern family, but she has had misfortunes. Her marriage was unhappy.
She and Peck are separated now, and she supports herself and her two
children. There was no hope of getting alimony out of that man."

"And that is Genevieve Ryan beside her," Madame Delmonti went on. "I
think you'd like Genevieve. She's a grand girl. Her father, you know, is
Barney Ryan, one of our millionaires. He made his money in a quick turn
in Con. Virginia, but before that he used to drive the Marysville coach,
and he was once a miner. He's crazy about Genevieve and gives her five
hundred a month to dress on. I'm sure you'll get on very well together.
She's such a refined, pleasant girl"----and Madame Delmonti, chattering
her praises of Barney Ryan's handsome daughter, conducted the stranger
to the shrine.

Miss. Genevieve smiled upon him, much as she had upon the singer, and
brushing aside her skirts of changeable green and heliotrope silk,
showed him a little golden-legged chair beside her. Mrs. Peck and Madame
Delmonti conversed wi