not
say as to the right man, but I can say with all my heart that he
who wins such prize is fortunate indeed, and should cherish it for
ever. See, I am not after all devoid of wit or courage, my dear
young girl! Because, I know, though you do not tell me, that there
is some game at which you play, yourself, and that you will not
stop that game to participate in my smaller enterprise of visiting
Kossuth and the lands of Europe! I accept defeat myself, once
more, in a game where a woman is at stake. Again, I lose!"

There was more truth than she knew in his words, for what was in
his mind and in the minds of others there in Washington, regarding
her, were matters not then within her knowledge. But she was
guided once more, as many a woman has been, by her unerring
instinct, her sixth sense of womanhood, her scent for things of
danger. Now, though she stood with face grave, pensive, almost
melancholy, to give him curtsy as he passed, there was not weakness
nor faltering in her mien or speech.

"But he would have to _win_!" she said, as though following out
some train of thought. "He would first need to win in the larger
game. Ah! What woman would be taken, except by the man who really
had won in the real game of life."

"You would demand that, my dear?" smiled the pleasant gentleman who
now was bowing himself toward the door.

"I would demand it!"

By the time he had opportunity to rally his senses, assailed as
they were by the sight of her, by the splendor of her apparel, by
the music of her voice, the fragrance which clung about her, the
charm of her smiles,--by the time, in short, which he required to
turn half about, she was gone. He heard her light step at the
stair.

"My soul!" he exclaimed, wiping his brow with a silken kerchief.
"So much for attempting to sacrifice principle--for expecting to
mix Free Soil and Whig! Damn that Kentuckian!"

CHAPTER XXVII

A SPLENDID FAILURE

If it is easy to discover why there was no special embassy sent by
this government to Turkey for the purpose of inviting the
distinguished patriot Kossuth to visit America, (that matter being
concluded in rather less formal fashion after the return home of
the Hungarian committee of inquiry--a ship of our navy being
despatched to carry him to our shores) it with equal ease may be
understood why the Countess St. Auban after this remained
unmolested. A quaking administration, bent only on keeping
political matters