y some of my household. If you will honor us with your presence to-day
at four o'clock, I will be most happy to give you due satisfaction.
My servant will be waiting with the carriage at half-past three.

"I am, sir, yours, &c.,

"J. DEVENANT"

"JEROME FLETCHER, Esq."

Who this gentleman was, and how he had found out his name and the hotel
at which he was stopping, were alike mysteries to Jerome. And this note
seemed to his puzzled brain like a challenge. "Satisfaction?" He had not
asked for satisfaction. However, he resolved to accept the invitation,
and, if need be, meet the worst. At any rate, this most mysterious and
complicated affair would be explained.

The clock on a neighboring church had scarcely finished striking three
when a servant announced to Jerome that a carriage had called for him.
In a few minutes, he was seated in a sumptuous barouche, drawn by a
pair of beautiful iron-grays, and rolling over a splendid gravel road
entirely shaded by trees, which appeared to have been the accumulated
growth of many centuries. The carriage soon stopped at a low villa,
which was completely embowered in trees.

Jerome alighted, and was shown into a superb room, with the walls finely
decorated with splendid tapestry, and the ceilings exquisitely frescoed.
The walls were hung with fine specimens from the hands of the great
Italian masters, and one by a German artist, representing a beautiful
monkish legend connected with the "Holy Catharine," an illustrious lady
of Alexandria. High-backed chairs stood around the room, rich curtains
of crimson damask hung in folds on either side of the window, and a
beautiful, rick, Turkey carpet covered the floor. In the centre of the
room stood a table covered with books, in the midst of which was a
vase of fresh flowers, loading the atmosphere with their odors. A
faint light, together with the quiet of the hour, gave beauty beyond
description to the whole scene. A half-open door showed a fine marble
floor to an adjoining room, with pictures, statues, and antiquated
sofas, and flower-pots filled with rare plants of every kind and
description.

Jerome had scarcely run his eyes over the beauties of the room when
the elderly gentleman whom he had met on the previous evening made his
appearance, followed by the little boy, and introduced himself as Mr.
Devenant. A moment more and a lady, a beautiful brunette, dressed in
black, with long black curls hanging over her sho