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 been buttonholed by another diplomatic gentleman, and was talking earnestly.

George, with a gesture of impatience, took my hand, put it inside his arm, and walked me off to a sheltered nook, where he made me sit down. Then he brought me a tiny glass of dark-colored liquid.

I shook my head. "I can't drink brandy."

He frowned. "Really you must drink it, Miss Romilly," he said persuasively.

I took it and drained the glass. The warmth it imparted to my chilled body was most welcome. It crept over me from head to foot in a comforting way.

George stood and watched me for a few minutes, then smiled a little, saying,—

"You look a trifle less blue than you did. I mean, blue in color."

"Tom told me," said I, in an aggrieved tone, "that I looked very well at a distance."

"So you do," said Count Piloff, still smiling; "but I was quite near you, and I never saw any one look so ill."

A group of ladies and gentlemen came walking past us, and, stopping near by, continued a conversation which they had been holding in French.

"It was all a misunderstanding, you know," said one of the ladies to an older one.

I had stopped talking to observe the group, as one will do in such places, and was still looking at them with a sort of idle curiosity.

"Oh no, I assure you!" cried the other. "He