ch matters, this seemed
rather strange; but he possessed enough natural tact not to expose
himself to a rebuff by any hasty advances, but quietly to wait further
developments of the adventure on the part of the heroine of it. This gave
him the opportunity of looking at her more closely, and for this he
employed the moments when their attention was diverted from him, and was
taken up by conversation among themselves.

The girl, whom the others called Angelica, was a thorough Viennese
beauty, not exactly regularly beautiful, for her features were not Roman
or Greek, and not even strictly German, and yet they possessed every
female charm, and were seductive, in the fullest sense of the word. Her
strikingly small nose, which in a lady's-maid might have been called
impudent, and her little mouth with its voluptuously full lips, which
would have been called lustful in a street-walker, imparted an
indescribable piquant charm to her small head, which was surmounted by
an imposing tower of that soft brown hair which is so characteristic of
Viennese women. Her bright eyes were full of good sense, and a merry
smile lurked continually in the most charming little dimples near her
mouth and on her chin.

In less than a quarter of an hour, our cadet was fettered, with no more
will of his own than a slave has, to the triumphal chariot of this
delightful little creature, and as he hoped and believed--for ever.
And he was a man worth capturing. He was tall and slim, but muscular, and
looked like an athlete, and at the time he had one of those handsome,
open faces which women like so much. His honest, dark eyes showed
strength of will, courage and strong passions, and that, women also like.

During an interval in the music, an elderly gentleman, with the ribbon of
an order in his button-hole, came up to the table, and from the manner in
which he greeted them, it was evident that he was an old friend. From
their conversation, which was carried on in a very loud tone of voice,
and with much animation, in the bad, Viennese fashion, the cadet gathered
that the gentleman who was with the ladies, was a Councilor of Legation,
and that the eldest lady was his wife, while the second lady was his
married, and the youngest his unmarried, sister-in-law. When they at last
rose to go, the pretty girl, evidently intentionally, put her velvet
jacket, trimmed with valuable sable, very loosely over her shoulders;
then she remained standing at the exit, a