oor, five of them, and all _en
suite_, and gorgeously decorated in white and gold, were brilliantly
lighted and thrown open to the best of London society. Lady Essendine
was at home to her friends, and seemingly she had plenty of them, for
the place was thronged.

The party was by way of being musical--that is to say, a famous
pianist had been engaged to let off a lot of rockets from his
finger-tips, and a buffo singer from the opera roared out his "Figaro
la, Figaro qua," with all the strength of his brazen lungs; while one
or two gifted amateurs sang glees in washed-out, apologetical
accents, which were nearly lost in the din of the room.

But there was yet another singer, whose performance was attended with
rather more display. It was preluded by a good deal of whispering and
nodding of heads. Lady Essendine posed as a charitable person, always
anxious to do good, and this singer was a _protegee_ of hers--an
interesting but unfortunate foreigner in very reduced circumstances,
whom she had discovered by accident, and to whom she was most anxious
to give a helping hand.

"A sweet creature," she had said quite audibly that evening, although
the object of her remarks was at her elbow. "A most engaging person;
poor thing, when I found her she was almost destitute. Wasn't it sad?"

"Quite pretty, too," her friends had remarked, also ignoring the near
neighbourhood of the singer.

It did not seem to matter much. The stranger sat there calmly, proudly
unconscious of all that was said about her. Pretty!--the epithet was
well within the mark. Beautiful, rather--magnificently, splendidly
beautiful, with a noble presence and almost queenly air. Her small,
exquisitely-proportioned head, crowned with a coronet of deep chestnut
hair, was well poised upon a long, slender neck; she had a refined,
aristocratic face, with clear-cut features, a well-shaped, aquiline
nose, with slender nostrils; a perfect mouth, great lustrous dark
eyes, with brows and lashes rather darker than her hair. Her teeth
were perfect--perhaps she knew it, for her lower lip hung down a
little, constantly displaying their pearly whiteness, and adding
somewhat to the decided outline of the firm well-rounded chin.

Seated, her beauty claimed attention; but her appearance was still
more attractive when she stood up and moved across the room, to take
her seat at the piano. Her figure was tall and commanding, full, yet
faultless in outline, as that of one in th