I want you to make a conquest of the archduke." And that queen of coquettes thought to herself that her hands on that eventful evening would indeed be full.

Not one word did the diplomatic old colonel say to Basil, but that young man was not quite himself.

He had been wonderfully attracted by Lady Lisle's face; he read poetry, love of romance and everything else beautiful and piquant in it.

Of all the women he had seen she was the only one who had interested him.

He wondered whether the mind matched the peerless face.