faster whirled the
moving forms. Eyes flashed more brightly; little feet seemed born for
dancing; cheeks, pale at midday, were flushed with excitement! Why
doesn't he dance, wondered the lady with the white lamb. Carnival
comes but once a year; a mad, merry time; when gaiety should sweep all
cares out of doors!

"Said Strephon to Chloe: 'For a kiss,
I'll give thee the choice of my flock.'
Said Chloe to Strephon: 'What bliss,
If you'll add to the gift a new smock,'"

hummed the lively nymph, as she tripped by.

"Said Chloe to Strephon: 'For a kiss,
I'll return thee the choice of your flock.
Said Strephon to Chloe: 'What bliss,
With it I'll buy Phyllis a new frock,'"

she concluded, throwing a glance over her shoulder.

A sudden distaste for the festal ferment, the laughter and merriment;
a desire to escape from the very exuberance of high spirits and cheer
led the soldier to make his way slowly from the ball-room to the
balcony, where, although not removed from the echoes of liveliness
within, he looked out upon the quietude of the night. Overhead
stretched the sky, a measureless ocean, with here and there a silvery
star like the light on a distant ship; an unfathomable sea of ether
that beat down upon him. Radiant and serene, in the boundless calm of
the heavens, the splendent lanterns seemed suspended on stationary
craft peacefully rocked at anchor. Longings, suppressed through months
of absence, once more found full sway; Susan's words were recalled by
the presence of the count.

Suddenly the song of "Die Schoenbrunner" ceased within, and, as its
pulsations became hushed, many of the dancers, an elate, buoyant
throng, sought the balcony. Standing in the shadow near the entrance,
aroused from a train of reflections by this abrupt exodus, the soldier
saw among the other merry-makers, Constance and the count, who passed
through the door, so near he could almost have touched her.

"Here she is," said the count, as they approached an elderly lady,
seated near the edge of the balcony. "Ah, Madam," he continued to the
latter, "if you would only use your good offices in my behalf! Miss
Carew is cruelty itself."

"Why, what has she done?" asked the good gentlewoman.

"Insisted upon deserting the ball-room!"

"In my day," said the elderly ally of the nobleman, "you could not
drag the young ladies fro