nd tossed off a glass of champagne cup.

Madame de Clericy sipped her coffee slowly, and said nothing; but her
eyes travelled downward from the crown of her companion's head to his
dapper feet. And during that scrutiny there is little doubt that she
reckoned the value of Monsieur Alphonse Giraud. What she saw was a
pleasant spoken young man, plus twenty thousand pounds a year. No
wonder the Vicomtesse smiled softly.

"And I," went on the Frenchman in half humorous humility, "what am I?
Not clever, not handsome, not even tall!"

The lady shrugged her shoulders.

"_C'est la vie_," she said; a favourite reflection with her.

"Yes, and life and I are equal," replied Alphonse, with his gay laugh.
"We are both short! And now I wish to present to you and to Lucille my
best friend, Phillip Gayerson. He stands over there by the table, he
in English clothes. He only arrived in Paris ten days ago, and speaks
French indifferently. But he is charming, quite charming, my dearest
friend."

"Did you know him before he came to Paris?"

"Oh, no! Excuse me. I will bring him."

Madame made no remark, but watched Giraud with her quiet smile as he
went to seek this dear friend of eight days' standing.

Phillip Gayerson was distinguished by a slight shyness. It was as
little known or understood in Paris in the decadent days of the Second
Empire as it is now in the time of our own social collapse in England.

Thus, when the introduction was complete, Phillip Gayerson found that
he had nothing to say to this elderly French lady, and was glad when
Lucille came up, radiant on the arm of her partner. Alphonse presented
his friend at once, and here Phillip felt more at his ease, being a
better dancer than talker, and asked for the honour of a waltz without
delay.

"I have but two left," answered Mademoiselle de Clericy, with a gay
glance of happiness towards her mother. "They are at the end of the
programme, and I promised to reserve them for Monsieur Howard."

She handed him her engagement card, in frank confirmation of this
statement.

"R. H.," said Gayerson, deciphering the initials Lucille herself had
scribbled. "If this is Dick Howard I will take the first of his two
dances, and risk the consequence. It will not be the first time that
Dick and I have fallen out."

[Illustration: "THEN YOU KNOW MR. HOWARD?" SAID LUCILLE, WITH ANOTHER
GLANCE AT HER MOTHER. "YES," ... ANSWERED GAYERSON, BUT HAD NO TIME
FOR MORE, FOR THE NEXT DAN