hospitality, it
would have been impossible not to welcome such a guest. Our host had,
in common with his daughter, a sense of humor. There was a quizzical
expression on his fine face as he replied, with the barest glance at
Mademoiselle Antoinette:--

"I trust you have been--well entertained, Mr. Temple. My daughter has
been accustomed only to the society of her brother and cousins."

"Faith, I should not have supposed it," said Nick, instantly, a remark
which caused the color to flush deeply into Mademoiselle's face. I
looked to see Monsieur de St. Gre angry. He tried, indeed, to be grave,
but smiled irresistibly as he mounted the steps to greet his wife, who
stood demurely awaiting his caress. And in this interval Mademoiselle
shot at Nick a swift and withering look as she passed him. He returned a
grimace.

"Messieurs," said Monsieur de St. Gre, turning to us, "dinner will soon
be ready--if you will be so good as to pardon me until then."

Nick followed Mademoiselle with his eyes until she had disappeared
beyond the hall. She did not so much as turn. Then he took me by the arm
and led me to a bench under a magnolia a little distance away, where he
seated himself, and looked up at me despairingly.

"Behold," said he, "what was once your friend and cousin, your
counsellor, sage, and guardian. Behold the clay which conducted you
hither, with the heart neatly but painfully extracted. Look upon a
woman's work, Davy, and shun the sex. I tell you it is better to go
blindfold through life, to have--pardon me--your own blunt features,
than to be reduced to such a pitiable state. Was ever such a refinement
of cruelty practised before? Never! Was there ever such beauty, such
archness, such coquetry,--such damned elusiveness? Never! If there is a
cargo going up the river, let me be salted and lie at the bottom of it.
I'll warrant you I'll not come to life."

"You appear to have suffered somewhat," I said, forgetting for the
moment in my laughter the thing that weighed upon my mind.

"Suffered!" he cried; "I have been tossed high in the azure that I might
sink the farther into the depths. I have been put in a grave, the earth
stamped down, resurrected, and flung into the dust-heap. I have been
taken up to the gate of heaven and dropped a hundred and fifty years
through darkness. Since I have seen you I have been the round of all the
bright places and all the bottomless pits in the firmament."

"It seems to have made you