to treat her with the courtesy due to a
relative? Have we not always found her very grateful and very
agreeable?"

"I grant you--very agreeable--_too_ agreeable by half," returned the
count; "so agreeable that, as I said, she invariably throws your
favorite Bertha into the shade. I confess that the necessity of always
reserving for this young person, thrust upon us by the force of
circumstances, a place at table, a seat in the carriage, room upon every
party of pleasure, makes her presence an inconvenience, if not a
positive burden. And will you allow me to speak with great candor? May I
venture to say that I have seen you, my dear mother, chafed by the
infliction, and irritated by beholding Bertha lose through contrast with
Madeleine?"

His mother replied with animation: "Bertha is my grandniece,--the
granddaughter of my only sister; the ties of blood, if nothing more,
would bind me more closely to her than to Madeleine. Possibly there may
have been times when I have not been well pleased to see one so dear,
invariably, though most inexplicably, eclipsed. Bertha may shine forth
in her most resplendent jewels,--her most costly and exquisite Parisian
toilet; Madeleine has only to enter, in a simple muslin dress, a flower,
or a knot of ribbons in her hair, and she draws all eyes magnetically
upon her."

"That is precisely the observation I have made," answered Count Tristan;
"and, my mother, have you never reflected how seriously your _protegee_
may interfere with our prospects respecting Maurice?"

The countess started. "Impossible! He could not think of Madeleine when
a union with Bertha would be so much more advantageous."

"Youth does not think--it chooses by the attraction it experiences
towards this or that object," answered the count. "Before Maurice last
returned to the university, nine months ago, his admiration for
Madeleine was unmistakable. Now that he is shortly to come home, and for
an indefinite period,--now that our plans must ripen, I have come to the
conclusion that Madeleine must be removed, or they will never attain
fruition; she must not be allowed to cast the spell of her dangerous
fascination over him; something must be done, and that before Maurice
returns; in a fortnight he will be here."

Before the countess could reply, a young girl bounded into the room,
with a letter in one hand, and a roll of music in the other.

It would be difficult to find a more perfect type of the pure blonde
th