m cotillion or minuet. And the men would stay
till the dawn to toast them!"

"And I've no doubt, Madam, your name was often on their lips,"
returned the count gallantly, who evidently believed in the Spanish
proverb: "Woo the duenna, not the maid; then in love the game's well
played!"

The ally in his cause made some laughing response which the soldier
did not hear. Himself unseen, Saint-Prosper bent his eyes upon the
figure of the young girl, shadowy but obvious in the reflected light
of the bright constellations. Even as he gazed, her hand removed the
mask, revealing the face he knew so well. In the silence below, the
fountain tinkled ever so loudly, as she stood, half-turned toward the
garden, a silken head-covering around her shoulders; the head outlined
without adornment, save the poppies in her hair.

Her presence recalled scenes of other days: the drive from the races,
when her eyes had beamed so softly beneath the starry luster. Did she
remember? He dared not hope so; he did not. To him, it brought, also,
harsher memories; yet his mind was filled most with her beauty, which
appeared to gloss over all else and hold him, a not impassive
spectator, to the place where she was standing. She seemed again
Juliet--the Juliet of inns and school-house stages--the Juliet he had
known before she had come to New Orleans, whose genius had transformed
the barren stage into a garden of her own creation.

And yet something made her different; an indefinable new quality
appeared to rest upon her. He felt his heart beating faster; he was
glad he had come; for the moment he forgot his jealousy in watching
her, as with new wealth of perfume, the languid breeze stirred the
tresses above her pallid, immovable features. But the expression of
confidence with which the count was regarding her, although ostensibly
devoting himself to her companion, renewed his inquietude.

Had she allowed herself to be drawn into a promised alliance with that
titled roue? Involuntarily the soldier's face grew hard and stern; the
count's tactics were so apparent--flattering attention to the elderly
gentlewoman and a devoted, but reserved, bearing toward the young girl
in which he would rely upon patience and perseverance for the
consummation of his wishes. But certainly Constance did not exhibit
marked preference for his society; on the contrary, she had hardly
spoken to him since they had left the ball-room. Now clasping the iron
railing of the balc