rt,
sleek raven hair, small head, noble bearing; the girl divinely lovely in
her marble purity of complexion, her classical grace of form--these two
were, as every one avowed and acknowledged, the handsomest couple in the
room.

'We're none of us in it compared with them,' said a young naval
commander to his partner, whereupon the young lady looked somewhat
sourly, and replied that Lady Lesbia's features were undeniably regular
and her complexion good, but that she was wanting in soul.

'Is she?' asked the sailor, incredulously, 'Look at her now. What do you
call that, if it isn't soul?'

'I call it simply disgraceful,' answered his partner, sharply turning
away her head.

Lesbia was looking up at the Spaniard, her lips faintly parted, all her
face listening eagerly as she caught some whispered word, breathed among
the soft ripples of her hair, from lips that almost touched her brow.
People cannot go on waltzing for ten minutes in a dead silence, like
automatic dancers. There must be conversation. Only it is better that
the lips should do most of the talking. When the eyes have so much to
say society is apt to be censorious.

Mr. Smithson was smoking a cigarette on the lawn with a sporting peer. A
man to whom tobacco is a necessity cannot be always on guard; but it is
quite possible that in the present state of Lady Lesbia's feelings
Smithson would have had no restraining influence had he been ever so
watchful. To what act in the passion drama had her love come to-night as
she floated round the room, with her head inclined towards her lover's
breast, the strong pulsation of his heart sounding in her ear, like the
rhythmical beat of the basses yonder in Waldteufel's last waltz? Was
there still the uncertainty as to the _denouement_ which marks the third
act of a good play? or was there the dread foreboding, the sense of
impending doom which should stir the spectators with pity and terror as
the fourth act hurries to its passionate close? Who could tell? She had
been full of life and energy to-day on board the yacht during the
racing, in which she seemed to take an ardent interest. The _Cayman_ had
followed the racers for three hours through a freshening sea, much to
Lady Kirkbank's disgust, and Lesbia had been the soul of the party.
The same yesterday. The yacht had only got back to Cowes in time for the
ball, and all had been hurry and excitement while the ladies dressed and
crossed to the club, the spray dashing