able to her. When the man in question is the lion of the day,
probably his success becomes inevitable; at all events, Lucia gradually
recovered her good humour, and kept up her part of the broken chat
possible under the circumstances, with enough grace and spirit to give
to her extraordinary beauty the last crowning charm which Percy had not,
until then, found in it.

Thus they finished their quadrille in good humour with each other, but
as they left their place to rejoin Mrs. Bellairs, Maurice Leigh came
into the room by a side door. The sight of him reminded Mr. Percy of the
short dialogue he had heard.

"You are engaged for the next quadrille, are you not?" he asked Lucia.

"Yes, to Maurice. I promised it to him instead of the first."

"You were to have danced this one with him, then?"

She laughed. "It is a childish arrangement of ours," she said; "we
agreed, long ago, always to dance the first quadrille together, and
everybody knows of it, so no one asks me for that."

"I wonder at his being willing to miss his privilege to-night; you must
be very indulgent, not to punish him."

"Oh! you know he is acting as a kind of steward to-night and has so many
things to do. It was not his fault."

"And you would have waited patiently for him?"

"Patiently? I don't know. Certainly I should have waited, for no one but
a stranger would have asked me to dance."

"I hope, however, you forgive me."

They had reached Mrs. Bellair's, and she only answered by a smile as she
sat down. A minute after, she was carried off by another partner, and
Mr. Percy took possession of the vacant place.

The evening passed on. At the end of it, Mr. Percy, shut up in his own
room, surprised himself in the midst of a reverie the subject of which
was Lucia Costello; he actually found himself comparing her with a
certain Lady Adeliza Weymouth, of whom he had been supposed to be
_epris_ the season before. But then Lady Adeliza had no particular claim
to beauty; she was "distinguished" and of a powerful family; as for
Lucia, on the other hand, she was----There! it was no use going off
into that question. A great deal more sense to go to bed.

Meantime Lucia, under Maurice's escort, was on her way home. They had
started, talking gaily enough, but before half the distance was passed
they grew silent.

After a long pause Maurice asked, "Are you very tired?"

Lucia's meditation had carried her so far away that she started at the
sound of hi