ted joys, Duplessis felt that no
change in that man had impaired the force of character which had made
him the hero of reckless coevals. Though wearing no beard, not even a
mustache, there was something emphatically masculine in the contour
of the close-shaven cheek and resolute jaw; in a forehead broad at the
temples, and protuberant in those organs over the eyebrows which are
said to be significant of quick perception and ready action; in the
lips, when in repose compressed, perhaps somewhat stern in their
expression, but pliant and mobile when speaking, and wonderfully
fascinating when they smiled. Altogether, about this Victor de Mauleon
there was a nameless distinction, apart from that of conventional
elegance. You would have said, "That is a man of some marked
individuality, an eminence of some kind in himself." You would not be
surprised to hear that he was a party-leader, a skilled diplomatist, a
daring soldier, an adventurous traveller; but you would not guess him to
be a student, an author, an artist.

While Duplessis thus observed the Vicomte de Mauleon, all the while
seeming to lend an attentive ear to the whispered voice of the Minister
by his side, Alain passed on into the ball-room. He was fresh enough to
feel the exhilaration of the dance. Enguerrand (who had survived that
excitement, and who habitually deserted any assembly at an early hour
for the cigar and whist of his club) had made his way to De Mauleon, and
there stationed himself. The lion of one generation has always a mixed
feeling of curiosity and respect for the lion of a generation before
him, and the young Vandemar had conceived a strong and almost an
affectionate interest in this discrowned king of that realm in fashion
which, once lost, is never to be regained; for it is only Youth that can
hold its sceptre and command its subjects.

"In this crowd, Vicomte," said Enguerrand, "there must be many old
acquaintances of yours?"

"Perhaps so, but as yet I have only seen new faces."

As he thus spoke, a middle-aged man, decorated with the grand cross of
the Legion and half-a-dozen foreign orders, lending his arm to a lady of
the same age radiant in diamonds, passed by towards the ball-room,
and in some sudden swerve of his person, occasioned by a pause of
his companion to adjust her train, he accidentally brushed against De
Mauleon, whom he had not before noticed. Turning round to apologize for
his awkwardness, he encountered the full gaze o