Lord Lisle never reaches home until a quarter of an hour before dinner, and then he has to hurry.

Our guests will not arrive until nearly eight, so we shall not be interrupted." He looked round that little fairy nook, wondering at its elegance, wondering at the soft, rosy light, at the fragrance of the white daphnes, but more than all at the queenly loveliness of the beautiful woman before him.
She sat in the very heart of the crimson glow, her glistening silken dress sweeping in rich waves, and quite sure that her attitude, like everything else about her, was perfect.

She held out her hand to him, with a smile that would have bewildered any man older and wiser than he.
"Sit down here," she said, pointing to a velvet fauteuil; "I am going to make you my judge.

Ah, Basil, for this one night I may call you Basil; perhaps after you have heard what I have to say, you will never be my knight again; it may change you." "I shall belong to you, and ask no greater happiness than to serve you until I die," he replied, A fan lay on the table by her side, with jeweled handle, and made of white, soft feathers.

She opened it and quietly stirred the warm, perfumed air.
"I could only tell my trouble to you," she began, in her soft, caressing voice.