ored Evilena's whim to the extent of a dainty dress
of softest sky blue silk, half covered with the finest work of
delicate lace; she wore a pretty brooch and bracelet of turquoise, and
was a charming picture of blonde beauty, a veritable white lily of a
woman. Dr. Delaven, noting the well-bred grace, the gentle, unassuming
air so truly refined and patrician, figuratively took off his hat to
the Colonel, who, between two such alluring examples of femininity,
two women of such widely different types as the Parisian and the
Carolinian, had even been able to make a choice. For he could see what
every one but Kenneth could see plainly, that while Miss Loring was
gracious and interested in her other men friends, he remained, as
ever, her one hero, apart from, and above all others, and if Judithe
de Caron had not appeared upon the scene--

Gertrude looked even lovelier than she had the night before at the
party. Her cheeks had a color unusual, and her eyes were bright with
hope, expectation, or some unspoken cause for happiness; it sounded in
the tones of her voice and shone in the happy curves of her lips as
she smiled.

"Look at yourself in the glass, Gertrude," said Evilena, dragging her
to the long mirror in the sitting room, "you are always lovely, dear,
but today you are entrancingly beautiful."

"Today I am entrancingly happy," returned Miss Loring, looking in the
mirror, but seeing in it not herself, but Judithe, who was crossing
the hall, and who looked like a Spanish picture in her gleam of yellow
tissues and topazes.

"Wasn't it clever of me to think of lighting the lamps?" asked Evilena
in frank self-laudation, "just listen how that rain beats; and did you
see the hail? Well, it fell, lots of it, while we were dressing;
that's what makes the air so cool. I hope it will storm all the rain
down at once and then give us a clear day tomorrow, when Kenneth has
to go away."

"It would be awful for any one to be out in a storm like this,"
remarked the other as the crash of thunder shook the house; "what
about Captain Monroe having to go through it?"

"Caroline said the guard has just got here, so I suppose he will have
to go no matter what the weather is. Well, I suppose he'd just as soon
be killed by the storm as to be shot for a spy. Only think of it--a
guest of ours to be taken away as a spy!"

"It is dreadful," assented Gertrude, and then looking at Judithe, she
added, "I hope you were not made nervous by th