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12 impression of her. But the recollection I carried away with me is that of a woman of a beauty whose mysteriousness defies description."

"If you desire to be disenchanted, Mr. Thorburn, you should get to know her."

"I should be happy to risk my idealism; but how am I to procure an introduction? Her house is a cloister—she a nun, secret and exclusive as the austerest of the flannelled sisterhood."

"Were we in Italy, I should advise you to serenade her. There love is studied as a fine art. It is different here. Yet were I in your straits—for, Mr. Thorburn, are you not in love with this beautiful phantom of yours?"

"I confess it."

"If I were in your straits, I say, I should do something hardy; go to her home, procure admittance at any sacrifice of politeness, and leave the rest to chance."