more earthly upon a better acquaintance?"

"No, not by any means. I found her more enchanting than ever; but hang
it, unless you had seen her, you could not comprehend how I could have
made such a confounded mistake. This lovely being is--is--is--don't
prepare to laugh. I shall be tempted to knock you down if you do, for
really my feelings are so much interested that I could not bear even a
friend's ridicule."

"Well, go on," urged M. de Bois. "The lady in question is,--not an
angel, unless it be a fallen one; that I understand; good; then _what_
is she?"

"A _mantua-maker!_" exclaimed Lord Linden, in accents of deep
mortification.

Well might he have been startled by the change that came over Gaston's
countenance; the merriment by which it had been lighted up suddenly
vanished; he looked aghast, astounded, and his features worked as though
with ill-suppressed rage.

"I see you are amazed: I thought you would be! You did not take me for
such a greenhorn! But, in spite of her trade,--her _profession_, as it
is considerately called in this country,--she is the most peerless
creature; any man might have been duped."

"And her name?" inquired Gaston, in an agitated voice, though he hardly
needed the confirmation to his fears contained in Lord Linden's answer.

"Mademoiselle Melanie!"

"Good heavens! how unfortunate!" exclaimed Gaston, not knowing what he
was saying.

"Unfortunate," repeated Lord Linden; "you may well say _that_. But as
marrying her is out of the question, there may possibly be an
alternative"--

"_What_ alternative? _What do you mean?_" demanded Gaston, turning upon
him fiercely.

"It does not strike me that my meaning is so difficult to divine,"
replied the other, lightly. "When a woman is not in a position to become
the wife of a man who has fallen desperately in love with her, there is
only one thing else that he will very naturally seek to"--

"Forbear, my lord! I cannot listen to such language," cried Gaston,
angrily. "You could not insult a pure woman, no matter in what station
you found her, by such a suggestion. I will not believe you capable of
such baseness."

Lord Linden looked at him in questioning amazement; then answered,
somewhat scornfully,--

"Really, I was not aware that instances of the kind were so rare, or
that your punctilious morality would be so terribly shocked by an
every-day occurrence. If the lovely creature herself consents to my
proposition, I consider tha