d not remain very long. He
chatted a short time with Emily on conventional subjects, and then
worked his way to the side of Dora, where he lingered longer. He said
several pretty things to her, such as she had heard already in different
forms from other men, but with just a tone, which seemed to indicate
that he spoke from his heart rather than from the mere passing fancy of
pleasing. It was very skilfully done. There was so little of it, that no
one, certainly not an inexperienced girl like Dora, could suspect that
it was all studied. Yet after he had gone, and the company was thinning
out, Mr. Randolph found his long-sought opportunity, and sat down for a
_tete-a-tete_ with Dora. He began at once.

"Miss Dora, why do you allow a cad like that Frenchman to make love to
you?"

"Are you alluding to my friend, Mr. Thauret?" She accentuated the word
"friend" merely to exasperate Mr. Randolph, and succeeded admirably.

"He is not your friend. In my opinion, he is nobody's friend but his
own."

"That has been said of so many, that it is no new idea."

"But do be serious, Miss Dora. You must not allow this fellow to worm
his way into your circle, and more than all, you must not allow him to
make love to you."

"You surprise me, Mr. Randolph. I had no idea that Mr. Thauret was
making love to me. I could relate everything that he said, and it would
scarcely bear out your assumption."

"That is only his cunning. He is too shrewd to speak plainly, so soon";
and yet this young philosopher was not wise enough to see that he was
damaging his own cause by putting ideas into the girl's mind which had
not yet entered there.

"Why, Mr. Randolph, you are really becoming amusing. You are like Don
Quixote fighting windmills. You imagine a condition, and then give me a
warning. It is entirely unnecessary, I assure you. Mr. Thauret was not
acting in any such way as you impute to him."

"You are not angry with me, I hope. You know what prompted me to
speak?"

"No, I fear I am not so clever as you at reading other people's
motives."

"But surely you must have guessed that----"

"Guessed what?" Dora looked at him so candidly, that he was abashed. It
was his opportunity to declare himself, and he might have done so, had
not Mr. Mitchel entered the room at that moment. Seeing him, Mr.
Randolph thought of the peculiar position he would be in if his friend
should be proven to be a criminal. For this reason he hesitated, and
thus lo