ion, he avoids enlightening us as to her
personality?"

"What then do you expect?" returned Dumaresque. "She is the widow of
my friend; the child, now, of my dear old god-mother. Should I find
faults in her you would say I am jealous. Should I proclaim her
virtues you would decide I am prejudiced by friendship, and so"--with
a smile that was conciliating and a gesture comprehensive he dismissed
the subject.

"Clever Dumaresque!" laughed Lavergne--"well, we shall see! Is it true
that your picture of the Kora is to be seen at the dowager's
tomorrow?"

"Quite true. It is sold, you know; but since the dowager is not equal
to art galleries I have given it a rest in her rooms before boxing it
for the new owner."

"I envy him," murmured Madame; "the picture is the pretty octoroon
glorified. So, Madame, your god-mother has two novelties to present
tomorrow. Usually it is so difficult to find even one."

When Delaven returned he found Lieutenant McVeigh still in the same
nook by the mantel and still alone.

"Well, you are making a lonesome time of it in the middle of the
crowd," he remarked. "How have you been amused?"

"By listening to comments on two pictures, one of a colored beauty,
and one of an atheistical grand dame."

"And of the two?"

"Of the two I should fancy the last not the least offensive. And, look
here, Delaven, just get me out of that engagement to look at
Dumaresque's new picture, won't you? It really is not worth while for
an American to come abroad for the study of pictured octoroons--we
have too many of the originals at home."

CHAPTER II.

Whatever the dowager's eccentricities or heresies, she was not afraid
of the sunlight, figuratively or literally. From floor to ceiling
three great windows let in softened rays on the paneled walls, on the
fluted columns of white and gold, and on the famous frescoes of the
First Empire. She had no feeling for petite apartments such as appeal
to many women; there must, for her, be height and space and long
vistas.

"I like perspective to every picture," she said. "I enjoy the
groupings of my friends in my own rooms more than elsewhere. From my
couch I have the best point of view, and the raised dais flatters me
with its suggestion of a throne of state."

She looked so tiny for a chair of state; and with her usual quaint
humor she recognized the fact.

"But my temperament brings me an affinity with things that are great
for all that," she would