an. That perfect ease of manner, which held not a vestige of
condescension, soon exerted its charm. One after another drew near that
envied circle, anxious to pick up some stray pearl of speech from those
lovely lips. The women forgot to be envious, because she never for one
moment forgot or ignored them. Even gouty Mrs Masterman found that her
ailment had been remembered, and was sympathetically enquired about in a
way to which she was entirely unaccustomed. The poet talked as if he
drew in inspiration with every glance from those starry eyes, the
musician at her request moved to the piano and played some of his "Music
of the Future," and it no longer seemed incomprehensible. A sense of
exhilaration, of pleasure, of content, spread through the group, and
animated discussion, and gave even ordinary conversation a sudden grace
and charm.

It was to be expected before the evening was over, that that
conversation would ascend by natural gradations from the ordinary to the
intellectual, yet no one could tell exactly how or when it began to do
so, any more than they could describe the strange yet clear logic by
which this one woman set to rights various perplexing problems, and gave
the key as it were to a nobler and higher order of eclectic philosophy
than they had yet ventured upon.

To Mrs Ray Jefferson, that discussion in the Baths had acted as the
stimulus of an olive to the palate. She was all eagerness to resume it.

"I hope, Madame Zairoff," she said, in her brisk, lively, fashion, "that
you will give me a little enlightenment about what you said yesterday.
This is just a leisure time with most of us, and I suppose mental
culture is not incompatible with hygienic pursuits."

"Assuredly not," said the Princess, smiling. "The more you cultivate
the mind the less you feel or care for the ailments of the body, and to
give those ailments even occasional insignificance, is to first forget,
and then banish them. If you draw your mind away from the thought of
pain, you cease to feel pain."

"But that would require a far stronger mental capacity than we possess,"
said Mrs Masterman. Then she suddenly remembered that she had not felt
a single gouty twinge the whole evening, because her mental
consciousness had been unusually excited. This remembrance made her
grow suddenly thoughtful and attentive to the discussion.

"I think," said Princess Zairoff, gently; "that we all make a great
mistake in setting any abs