face recently seen rising from out its diaphanous cloud of tulle, the
prettiness of it heightened by fair wealth of summer roses and flash of
costly diamonds, and upon Mr. Decies, the whole-hearted, young soldier
lover, whose existence threatened such dangerous complications in
respect of the rest of this strangely assorted company. Finally her
meditative survey returned to its point of departure. In thought she
surveyed her present companion,--his undeniable excellence of sentiment
and clear-seeing, his admittedly defective conduct in matters ethical
and financial. Never before had she been at such close quarters with
living and immediate human drama, and, notwithstanding her detachment,
her lofty indifference and high-spirited theories, she found it
profoundly agitating. She was sensible of being in collision with
unknown and incalculable forces. Instinctively she rose from her place
on the sofa, and, moving to the open window, looked out into the night.

Below, the Park, now silent and deserted, slept peacefully, as any
expanse of remote country pasture and woodland, in the mildly radiant
moonlight. Here and there were blottings of dark shadow cast by the
clumps or avenues of trees. Here and there the timid, yellow flame of
gas lamps struggled to assert itself against the all-embracing silver
brightness. Here and there windows glowed warm, set in the pale,
glistering facades of the adjacent houses. A cool, light wind, hailing
from the direction of the unseen Serpentine, stirred the hanging
clusters of the pink geraniums that fell over the curved lip of the
stone vases, standing along the broad coping of the balcony, and gently
caressed the girl's bare arms and shoulders.

Seen under these unaccustomed conditions familiar objects assumed a
fantastic aspect. For the night is a mighty magician, with power to
render even the weighty brick and stone, even the hard, uncomprising
outlines of a monster, modern city, delicately elusive, mockingly
tentative and unsubstantial. Meanwhile, within, from all along the
vista of crowded and brilliantly illuminated rooms, came the subdued,
yet confused and insistent, sound of musical instruments, of many
voices, many footsteps, the hush of women's trailing garments, the rise
and fall of unceasing conversation. And to Honoria standing in this
quiet, dimly-seen place, the sense of that moonlit world without, and
this gas and candle-lit world within, increased the nameless agitation
wh