said, "What a queer title!"

"What long eyelashes you have, Comtesse!" said Antony, apropos of
nothing. "They make a great shadow on your cheek, and they have no
business to be so dark, with your light, mud-colored hair."

"How rude, to call my hair mud-colored!" I said, indignantly, "I
always thought it _blond cendre_."

"So it is, and it shines like burnished metal. But you are a vain
little thing, I expect, and I did not wish to encourage you."

His voice was full of a caress. I did not dare to look into his queer
cat's eyes.

"You have black eyelashes yourself, and as I am of the family, why may
I not have them too?" I said, pouting.

"Of course you can have them or anything else you wish, to oblige you.
But I should rather like to know how long your hair is when you let it
down. You look as if you had a great quantity there, but probably it
is not all your own." And he smiled provokingly.

"If I was not afraid of the servants coming in I would undo it to show
you," I replied, with great indignation and a sadden feeling that I,
too, could tease. "I never heard anything so insulting!"

"My servants are well trained. It is not six o'clock yet. They won't
come in until half-past six, unless I ring. You have plenty of time."

A spirit of _coquetterie_ came over me for the first time in my life.
I took out the two great tortoise-shell pins that held it up, and let
my hair tumble down around me. It falls in heavy waves nearly to my
knees.

"That is perfectly beautiful!" said Antony, almost reverently. "I
apologize. It is your own."

I got up and shook it out and stood before him. It hung all round
me like a cloak. Oh, I was in a wicked mood, and I do not defend my
conduct.

"Comtesse," he said, and his eyes swam, "fiendish little temptress,
put up that hair. And come, I will tell you about _A Digit of the
Moon_."

I pretended to feel greatly snubbed, and in a minute had twisted it
to my head again.

"It is a queer title," I said.

Antony talked a little faster than usual. It seemed as if he was
breathing rather quickly.

"I shall give you this book. It only came out last year. I think it is
one of the most delightful things that ever was written. You must read
it carefully." And he put it into my hand. "The description, in the
beginning, of the ingredients which God used to create woman is quite
exquisite. Listen, I will read it to you." And he took the book again.

His voice is the most refined and