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 that she would not be able to withdraw in time for the Veglione, where Maurice, a baignoir, and a supper-table awaited her. If the Archduchess should sit down to play of any sort hope was over, escape would be impossible till daydawn; and Madame Mila hated playing with the Archduchess; with such personages she was afraid to cheat, and was obliged to pay.

With all the ingenuity, therefore, of which she was mistress, she introduced the idea of the Veglione into the mind of her hostess, and so contrived to fascinate her with the idea, that the Archduchess, who had gone in her time to five hundred public masked balls, was as hotly animated into a desire to go to this one as though she had been just let out of a convent at eighteen years old.

Madame Mila delightedly placed her baignoir at the disposition of her imperial highness, and her imperial highness invited all her guests to accompany her; such invitations are not optional; and Lady Hilda, who hated noise as her horses hated masks, was borne off by the mirthful, chattering, and gay-hearted lady, who had no