right glow in them, upon her companion; she was
beginning to see her way through his secret--a secret she was too
intrinsically loyal even now to dream of betraying.

"You spoke very nobly for him to-day. You have the fealty of one brave
character to another, I am sure!" pursued Venetia Corona, purposely
avoiding all hints of any warmer feeling on her listener's part, since
she saw how tenacious the girl was of any confession of it. "You would
do him service if you could, I fancy. Am I right?"

"Oh, yes!" answered Cigarette, with an over-assumption of carelessness.
"He is bon zig; we always help each other. Besides, he is very good to
my men. What is it you want of me?"

"To preserve secrecy on what I have told you for his sake; and to give
him a message from me."

Cigarette laughed scornfully; she was furious with herself for standing
obediently like a chidden child to hear this patrician's bidding, and
to do her will. And yet, try how she would, she could not shake off the
spell under which those grave, sweet, lustrous eyes of command held her.

"Pardieu, Milady! Do you think I babble like any young drunk with his
first measure of wine? As for your message, you had better let him come
and hear what you have to say; I cannot promise to remember it!"

"Your answer is reckless; I want a serious one. You spoke like a
brave and a just friend to him to-day; are you willing to act as such
to-night? You have come here strangely, rudely, without pretext or
apology; but I think better of you than you would allow me to do, if I
judged only from the surface. I believe that you have loyalty, as I know
that you have courage."

Cigarette set her teeth hard.

"What of that?"

"This of it. That one who has them will never cherish malice
unjustifiably, or fail to fulfill a trust."

Cigarette's clear, brown skin grew very red.

"That is true," she muttered reluctantly. Her better nature was growing
uppermost, though she strove hard to keep the evil one predominant.

"Then you will cease to feel hatred toward me for so senseless a reason
as that I belong to an aristocracy that offends you; and you will remain
silent on what I tell you concerning the one whom you know as Louis
Victor?"

Cigarette nodded assent; the sullen fire-glow still burned in her eyes,
but she succumbed to the resistless influence which the serenity, the
patience, and the dignity of this woman had over her. She was studying
Venetia Corona all this whi