a small table before him, and the end of a cigar
smoking on the tray where he had placed it. With a yawn, he had just
thrown aside the paper and was reaching for the thick, dark
beverage--his hand thin and nervous--when, glancing without, he caught
sight of the actress in the crowd. Obeying a sudden impulse, he arose,
picking up his hat which lay on a chair beside him.

"Yo' order am ready in a moment, Mr. Mauville," said a colored
servant, hurrying toward the land baron as the latter was leaving.

"I've changed my mind and don't want it," replied the other curtly.

And sauntering down the steps of the club with ill-concealed
impatience, he turned in the direction the young girl had taken,
keeping her retreating figure in view; now, so near her in the crowded
street, he could almost touch her; then, as they left the devious
ways, more distant, but ever with his eyes bent upon her. He had
almost spoken, when in the throng he approached within arm's length,
but something--he knew not what--restrained him, and a press of people
separated them. Only for a moment, and then he continued the
questionable pleasure of following her.

Had she turned, she would probably have seen her pursuer, but absorbed
in thought, she continued on her way, unconscious of his presence. On
and on she hurried, until she reached the tranquil outskirts and
lingered before the gate of one of the cemeteries. At the same time
the land baron slackened his footsteps, hesitating whether to advance
or turn back. After a moment's indecision, she entered the cemetery;
her figure, receding in the distance, was becoming more and more
indistinct, when he started forward quickly and also passed through
the gate.

The annual festival of the dead, following All Saint's day, was being
observed in the burial ground. This commemoration of those who have
departed in the communion--described by Tertullian in the second
century as an "apostolic tradition," so old was the sacrifice!--was
celebrated with much pomp and variety in the Crescent City. In the
vicinity of the cemetery gathered many colored _marchandes_, their
heads and shoulders draped in shawls and fichus of bright, diversified
hues; before them, perambulating booths with baskets of molasses candy
or _pain-patate_. Women, dressed in mourning, bore to the tomb flowers
and plants, trays of images, wreaths, crosses, anchors of dried
immortelles and artificial roses. Some were accompanied by priests and
acol