person of indifference to him, or a person who was
sacred; it was without doubt one or the other for which the man made
of himself a blank wall, and discouraged discussion.

Her carriage was just then announced; an engagement with Mrs. McVeigh
was arranged for the following morning, and then the Countess
descended the staircase accompanied by the Lieutenant and Delaven. She
liked to make progress through all public places with at least two men
in attendance; even a youthful lieutenant and an untitled medical
student were not to be disdained, though she would, of course, have
preferred the Lieutenant in a uniform, six feet of broad shouldered,
good-looking manhood would not weigh in her estimation with the
glitter of buttons and golden cord.

The two friends were yet standing on the lower step of the hotel
entrance, gazing idly after her carriage as it turned the corner, when
another carriage containing two ladies rolled softly towards their
side of the street, as if to stop at a jeweler's two doors below.

Delaven uttered a slight exclamation of pleasure, and stepped forward
as if to speak, or open the door of their carriage. But the occupants
evidently did not see him, and, moreover, changed their minds about
stopping, for the wheels were just ceasing to revolve when the younger
of the ladies leaned forward, spoke a brief word, and the driver sent
the horses onward at a rapid trot past the hotel, and Delaven stepped
back with a woeful grimace.

"Faith! no chance to even play the lackey for her," he grumbled.
"There's an old saying that 'God is good to the Irish;' but I don't
think I'm getting my share of it this day; unless its by way of being
kept out of temptation, and sure, its never a Delaven would pray for
that when the temptation is a lovely woman. Now wasn't she worth a
day's journey afoot just to look at?"

He turned to his companion, whose gaze was still on the receding
carriage, and who seemed, at last, to be aroused to interest in
something Parisian; for his eyes were alight, his expression, a
mingling of delight and disappointment. At Delaven's question,
however, he attempted nonchalance, not very successfully, and
remarked, as they re-entered the house, "There were two of them to
look at, which do you mean?"

"Faith, now, did you suppose for a minute it was the dowager I meant?
Not a bit of it! Madame Alain, as I heard some of them call her, is
the 'gem of purest ray serene.' What star of the heaven