y the entrance into a smaller gallery, which had
been turned into a sort of supper-room (there was a buffet at one end,
and everywhere a number of small tables at which groups of friends could
sit down, the gentlemen of the party bringing over what was wanted) he
happened to glance in, and there, occupying a small table all by
himself, was Mr. Octavius Quirk, Lionel at once made his way to him. He
found him with a capacious plate of lobster-salad before him, and by the
side of that was a large bottle of champagne.

"Going to sit down?" Quirk asked--but with no great cordiality; it was
for one person, not for two, that he had secured that bottle.

"No; I dined here," said Lionel, with innocent sarcasm.

"My dear fellow," observed the other, earnestly, "a good dinner is the
very best preparation in the world for a good supper."

"I hear Lady Adela has sent you her book; have you looked at it?" Lionel
asked.

"Yes, I have," said the other, with his mouth full of lobster-salad.
"Capital! I call it capital! Plenty of _verve_ and go--knowledge of
society--nobody can do that kind of thing like the people who are
actually living in it. Her characters are the people one really meets,
you know--they are in the world--they belong to life. Oh, yes, a capital
novel! Light, airy, amusing, sparkling--I tell you it will be the book
of the season!"

"Oh, I'm very glad to hear that," said Lionel, thoughtfully; and then he
went and got his light overcoat and crush-hat, and descended the wide
stone-steps, and made his way home to his rooms in Piccadilly.

CHAPTER V.

WARS AND RUMORS.

Little could Lionel Moore have anticipated what was to come of his
introducing his old comrade Nina to the New Theatre. At first all went
well; and even the prima-donna herself was so good as to extend her
patronage to Lionel's _protegee_; insomuch that, arriving rather early
at the theatre one evening, and encountering Nina in the corridor, she
said to her,

"You come into my room, and I'll show you my make-up."

It was a friendly offer; and the young Italian girl, who was working
hard in every way to fit herself for the stage, was glad to be initiated
still further into these mysteries of the toilet. But when she had
followed Miss Burgoyne into the sacred inner room, and when the dresser
had been told she should not be wanted yet awhile, Nina, who was far
from being a stupid person, began to perceive what had prompted this
sudden invit