u do not wish to meet."

"I would so much rather see you in this way,--I would indeed. I do
dine out occasionally, but it is at big formal parties, which I
cannot escape without giving offence."

"And you cannot escape my little not formal party,--without giving
offence." She looked into his face as she spoke, and he knew that she
meant it. And he looked into hers, and thought that her eyes were
brighter than any he was in the habit of seeing in these latter days.
"Name your own day, Duke. Will a Sunday suit you?"

"If I must come--"

"You must come." As she spoke her eyes sparkled more and more, and
her colour went and came, and she shook her curls till they emitted
through the air the same soft feeling of a perfume that her note had
produced. Then her foot peeped out from beneath the black and yellow
drapery of her dress, and the Duke saw that it was perfect. And she
put out her finger and touched his arm as she spoke. Her hand was
very fair, and her fingers were bright with rich gems. To men such as
the Duke, a hand, to be quite fair, should be bright with rich gems.
"You must come," she said,--not imploring him now but commanding him.

"Then I will come," he answered, and a certain Sunday was fixed.

The arranging of the guests was a little difficulty, till Madame
Goesler begged the Duke to bring with him Lady Glencora Palliser,
his nephew's wife. This at last he agreed to do. As the wife of his
nephew and heir, Lady Glencora was to the Duke all that a woman could
be. She was everything that was proper as to her own conduct, and not
obtrusive as to his. She did not bore him, and yet she was attentive.
Although in her husband's house she was a fierce politician, in his
house she was simply an attractive woman. "Ah; she is very clever,"
the Duke once said, "she adapts herself. If she were to go from any
one place to any other, she would be at home in both." And the
movement of his Grace's hand as he spoke seemed to indicate the
widest possible sphere for travelling and the widest possible
scope for adaptation. The dinner was arranged, and went off very
pleasantly. Madame Goesler's eyes were not quite so bright as they
were during that morning visit, nor did she touch her guest's arm in
a manner so alluring. She was very quiet, allowing her guests to do
most of the talking. But the dinner and the flowers and the wine were
excellent, and the whole thing was so quiet that the Duke liked it.
"And now you must come