ents,
of which he had long since leveled the outworks. He had removed the guns
from the ramparts; he had lowered the draw-bridge across the moat. The
draw-bridge had swayed lightly under Madame Munster's step; why should
he not cause it to be raised again, so that she might be kept prisoner?
He had an idea that she would become--in time at least, and on learning
the conveniences of the place for making a lady comfortable--a tolerably
patient captive. But the draw-bridge was never raised, and Acton's
brilliant visitor was as free to depart as she had been to come. It was
part of his curiosity to know why the deuce so susceptible a man was not
in love with so charming a woman. If her various graces were, as I have
said, the factors in an algebraic problem, the answer to this question
was the indispensable unknown quantity. The pursuit of the unknown
quantity was extremely absorbing; for the present it taxed all Acton's
faculties.

Toward the middle of August he was obliged to leave home for some days;
an old friend, with whom he had been associated in China, had begged him
to come to Newport, where he lay extremely ill. His friend got better,
and at the end of a week Acton was released. I use the word "released"
advisedly; for in spite of his attachment to his Chinese comrade he had
been but a half-hearted visitor. He felt as if he had been called away
from the theatre during the progress of a remarkably interesting drama.
The curtain was up all this time, and he was losing the fourth act; that
fourth act which would have been so essential to a just appreciation of
the fifth. In other words, he was thinking about the Baroness, who, seen
at this distance, seemed a truly brilliant figure. He saw at Newport
a great many pretty women, who certainly were figures as brilliant as
beautiful light dresses could make them; but though they talked a
great deal--and the Baroness's strong point was perhaps also her
conversation--Madame Munster appeared to lose nothing by the comparison.
He wished she had come to Newport too. Would it not be possible to make
up, as they said, a party for visiting the famous watering-place and
invite Eugenia to join it? It was true that the complete satisfaction
would be to spend a fortnight at Newport with Eugenia alone. It would be
a great pleasure to see her, in society, carry everything before her,
as he was sure she would do. When Acton caught himself thinking these
thoughts he began to walk up and