sfied me, what was not my
wonder and joy at discovering in it a reflective side; and for half an
hour I remained in a leafy alcove listening to her refined
converse,--dealing with books like "Corinne," and "La Chaumiere
Indienne,"--La Fontaine, Moliere, Montesquieu,--and especially
interesting me in the society which moved around us, which as she
touched it with her wand of history and eloquence, acquired an
inconceivable interest for me, and I was for the first time proud of
being a French-Canadian.

In the midst of these excitements, as I stood so listening, and now
joined by two others,--

"Chamilly, my brother, I have come for you," suddenly broke in Grace;
and stood before me all radiance, dropping somebody's arm. Excusing
myself, I took her in charge and we moved gaily off. Waltzing with her
was so easy that it made me feel my own motion graceful; the swirl of
mingled feelings impelled me to recognize how superior she was in other
things, and to proudly set her off against each lovely or dignified or
sprightly figure there; and when the music closed abruptly, we started
laughing together for the conservatory of which I have spoken, at the
end of the vast rooms. This conservatory ended in a circular enlargement
divided into several nooks or bowers, and we wandered into one in which
the moonlight came faintly on our faces through the glass and the vines.

Again the Greek head with the light upon it!

Strains of other music floated in. Every sense was enraptured.

"Let Alexandra go!" I thought. "Let me live as my people have discovered
how to live."

"Mon cher, am I tending you faithfully."

"Charmingly, my sister."

She laughed at the way I said it, because I spoke with perfect
resignation.

The thread running through all my other experiences of the evening had
been admiration of Grace. Pleased as I was with this society, I had
compared her with each of the best members of it, to her advantage. She
had in her young way, the dignity of Madame de Rheims; all the
gracefulness of the Southern girl with the pretty eyes; beauty as
striking, though not the same as that girl's sister; the gaiety of
Chinic; and now I was to find that she was apparently as cultured as
Mde. Fauteux. For she did talk seriously and brightly about books and
languages and artistic subjects:

"I would abhor beyond everything a life of fashionable vanity. My desire
for life is to always keep progressing."

Whilst she talked I was refl