moved the light shone on her dress and gleamed on her jewels, until
one was dazed with her splendor.

Lady Amelie was very particular about her flowers. On this evening, with
her costly dress and magnificent jewels, she would have nothing but
white daphnes. Did she know that the sweet, subtle fragrance of a daphne
reaches the senses long before the odor of other flowers touches them?
As she surveyed herself in the mirror, she felt devoutly satisfied.

"I shall be able to convert Basil Carruthers, Esq., to anything I like,"
she said; "if he has resisted all the world, he will yield to me."

So she drove off, resplendent, happy, animated, ready for the weaving of
her spells.

Any good Christian, seeing her pass by with that triumphant smile on her
lovely face, might have prayed their nearest and dearest should be kept
from harm.

Lady Amelie never arrived very early at a ball. She liked to make her
entree when most of the other guests were assembled. It was sweet to her
to see how sorry and shy the ladies looked at her arrival, and how the
faces of the men brightened. The first thing, of course, when she
arrived at Hexham House, was the archduke. It was wonderful to watch the
various phases of character that she could assume at will. With the
archduke, she was the brilliant woman of the world, witty, sarcastic,
adorable. He was enchanted with her; he declared that she combined all
the charms of English and French women; he danced with her and would
fain have lingered by her side, but that etiquette called him away.

Then Lady Amelie, already the belle of the ball, looked up, for Colonel
Mostyn was standing before her, and by his side one of the handsomest
and noblest young men she had ever seen. He introduced Basil Carruthers
to his fate.

She looked in his face with a smile, and drawing aside a fold of her
sumptuous dress, made room for him to sit near her.

He thought her even more dazzlingly beautiful than when he had seen her
at the opera. The perfume of the white daphnes must have touched his
senses as those most lovely eyes smiled into his; his brain seemed to
reel; he was intoxicated with her beauty as some men are with the fumes
of rare wine.

Colonel Mostyn lingered for a few minutes, then, well satisfied, went
away, leaving Basil and Lady Amelie together. She had taken her seat
under the shade of a magnificent mass of gorgeous, blooming flowers,
with wondrous leaves and rich perfume. As she sat with h