luence and was afraid of him, and one day,
while he was playing with her dark curls, he said jeeringly:

"It is usually said that contrasts usually attract each other, and yet
you are as dark as I am."

She smiled, and then tore off her black curls, and immediately the most
charming, fair-haired woman was sitting by the side of Lajos, who looked
at her attentively, but without any surprise.

He left his mistress at about midnight, in order to look after the
horses, as he said, and she put on a very pretty nightdress and went to
bed. She remained awake for fully an hour, expecting her lover, and then
she went to sleep, but in two hours' time she was roused from her
slumbers, and saw a police inspector and two constables by the side of
her magnificent bed.

"Whom do you want?" she cried.

"Caecelia K----."

"I am Miss Zoe."

"Oh! I know you," the Inspector said with a smile; "be kind enough to
take off your dark locks, and you will be Caecelia K----. I arrest you in
the name of the law."

"Good heavens!" she stammered, "Lajos has betrayed me."

"You are mistaken, Madame," the Inspector replied; "he has merely done
his duty."

"What? Lajos . . . my lover?"

"No, Lajos, the detective."

Caecelia got out of bed, and the next moment she sank fainting onto the
floor.

AN EXOTIC PRINCE

In the forthcoming reminiscences, a lady will frequently be mentioned
who played a great part in the annals of the police from 1848 to 1866,
and we will call her _Wanda von Chabert_. Born in Galicia of German
parents, and carefully brought up in every way, she married a rich and
handsome officer of noble birth, from love, when she was sixteen. The
young couple, however, lived beyond their means, and when her husband
died suddenly, two years after they were married, she was left anything
but well off.

As Wanda had grown accustomed to luxury and amusement, the quiet life in
her parents' house did not suit her any longer, and even while she was
still in mourning for her husband, she allowed a Hungarian magnate to
make love to her, and she went off with him at a venture, and continued
the same extravagant life which she had led when her husband was alive,
at her own authority. At the end of two years, however, her lover left
her in a town in North Italy, almost without means, and she was thinking
of going on the stage, when chance provided her with another resource,
which enabled her to reassure her position in society.