CE WAS GIRAUD'S, WHO WAS ALREADY BOWING
BEFORE HER, AS BEFORE A DEITY.]

He wrote his name over mine, and returned the card to its owner.

"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
dance was Giraud's, who was already bowing before her, as before a
deity.

Madame de Clericy made a little movement, as if to speak to Gayerson,
but that young gentleman failed to see the gesture, and moved away to
find his partner for the coming waltz.

With the great people gathered at this assembly we have nothing to do,
though the writer and the reader, no doubt, love to rub elbows with
such lofty persons, if it be only in a public room. Many of them, be
it noted, were not nearly so important as they considered themselves,
and the greatness of some was built upon a base too frail to withstand
the storm and stress of the coming years.

Through the brilliant throng Lucille moved gaily and happily, taking,
with the faith of youth, dross for gold, and a high head for the token
of a noble heart. When Phillip Gayerson claimed his dance he found her
a little tired, but still dazzled and excited by the brilliance of the
occasion.

"Is it not splendid?" she exclaimed, taking his arm. "It is my first
ball. I am sure I shall never be too old to dance, as mother says she
is. Is it not absurd to say such a thing?"

Gayerson laughed, and as was his wont--a habit, indeed, with many shy
men--came straight to the point.

"Do you know Dick Howard, then?" he asked.

"Yes, a little. Has he arrived? This is his dance, you know."

"I cannot tell you if he has arrived, Mademoiselle," answered the
Englishman, in his halting French. "I know him at home--in Norfolk. I
was not aware that he was in Paris. But he will not be here to-night."

"Why?"

"Because his father is dead."

Lucille said nothing. She obeyed the movements of his arm, and they
danced, mingling with that gay throng, where the feet were lighter
than the hearts, we may be sure. They went through the whole dance in
silence, as Phillip afterwards told me--and he tried in vain to engage
Lucille's full attention to matters of passing interest.

"We must find my mother," she said at length, when the music had
ceased. "Mr. Howard does not know. He has been travelling in the South
with my father. His letters have not been forwarded to him."

Phillip Gayerson guided his partner throug