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"Are they?" I asked, much interested: for I recalled Lipka and my unexpected meeting with Imszanski there.

"Did he tell you anything?"

"Oh, he is simply ridiculous—so hopelessly frank with me. He never will spare me any details, and holds it in some sort as a duty to conceal nothing from me. &hellip;"

She laughed bitterly, and at once looked sullen again.

"Yesterday, before you came home from the office, I asked Witold all about her. She is some star of the Parisian demi-monde, who has made up her mind to get an engagement at any price on the stage here: and Witold is expected, on account of his influence in Warsaw, to obtain a fixed situation for her. It appears that her voice is tolerable, and her outward appearance marvellous: he has described her to me in every particular. It was, I assure you, one of the most emotional experiences I ever went through."

She closed her eyes, to intensify the image that she was forming in her mind.

"The woman is tall, and seemingly of spare proportions: but only seemingly so. Her bony framework is exceedingly slight and