Page:In a winter city, by Ouida.djvu/321

 for any adventure, the Archduchess Anna was no sooner in the box than she was out of it, and declared her intention of going down into the crowd. Madame Mila, only too glad, went with her, and some half-dozen men formed their escort. Lady Hilda excused herself on the plea of a headache, a plea not untrue, and alone with the Duc de St. Louis awaited the return of her hostess. She had only put on her mask for entry, and had now laid it beside her; she threw aside her domino, for the heat of the box was stifling, and the whiteness of her dress shone as lilies do at moonlight. She leaned her cheek on her hand, and looked down on to the romping, screaming, many-coloured throngs.

"You are not well to-night, Madame?" said the Duc, with the affectionate solicitude that he felt for all pretty women.

He was puzzled as to how her relations could stand with Della Rocca: the previous night he had thought everything settled, but now he did not feel quite so sure.

"The Archduchess is so noisy; it always gives me a headache to dine with her," said