e threatened demise of this great man was not without
a peculiar interest. His acquaintance with Madame Goesler had not
been of long standing, nor even as yet had it reached a close
intimacy. During the last London season he had been introduced to
her, and had dined twice at her house. He endeavoured to make himself
agreeable to her, and he flattered himself that he had succeeded. It
may be said of him generally, that he had the gift of making himself
pleasant to women. When last she had parted from him with a smile,
repeating the last few words of some good story which he had told
her, the idea struck him that she after all might perhaps be the
woman. He made his inquiries, and had learned that there was not
a shadow of a doubt as to her wealth,--or even to her power of
disposing of that wealth as she pleased. So he wrote to her a pretty
little note, in which he gave to her the history of that good story,
how it originated with a certain Cardinal, and might be found in
certain memoirs,--which did not, however, bear the best reputation in
the world. Madame Goesler answered his note very graciously, thanking
him for the reference, but declaring that the information given was
already so sufficient that she need prosecute the inquiry no further.
Mr. Maule smiled as he declared to himself that those memoirs would
certainly be in Madame Goesler's hands before many days were over.
Had his intimacy been a little more advanced he would have sent the
volume to her.

But he also learned that there was some romance in the lady's life
which connected her with the Duke of Omnium. He was diligent in
seeking information, and became assured that there could be no chance
for himself, or for any man, as long as the Duke was alive. Some
hinted that there had been a private marriage,--a marriage, however,
which Madame Goesler had bound herself by solemn oaths never to
disclose. Others surmised that she was the Duke's daughter. Hints
were, of course, thrown out as to a connection of another kind,--but
with no great vigour, as it was admitted on all hands that Lady
Glencora, the Duke's niece by marriage, and the mother of the Duke's
future heir, was Madame Goesler's great friend. That there was a
mystery was a fact very gratifying to the world at large; and
perhaps, upon the whole, the more gratifying in that nothing had
occurred to throw a gleam of light upon the matter since the fact
of the intimacy had become generally known. Mr. Maule w